For anyone out there that's been keeping up with things, you know about the issues around Microsoft's IE browser and the fact that it uses plugins. For those that haven't, here's a quick rundown.

From News.com: A federal judge last week rejected Microsoft's post-trial claim that Eolas had misrepresented the facts in the patent case, which claimed the software giant had stolen browser technology relating to plug-ins. The ruling came after a $521 million verdict against the software giant last month, and ends Microsoft's first attempt to challenge the result. Basically, Eolas stated that he owned the patent to "plugins" for applications, and that Microsoft violated them. Thankfully, that doesn't mean much for us in the PHP world, but it could be a death knoll for several other favorite web applications (like Flash/Quicktime/RealVideo/etc), as well as a major blow to one of the world's most used browsers.

What do you all think? Should this patent be upheld? How much do you think Microsoft will really change IE to meet the requirements set by the judge? Will it be just a 'simple dialog box inserted between the selection and the application' (W3C sources)?