posted by morning_wood
The US Patent and Trademark Office has granted a patent to Microsoft Corp. for a “time based hardware button for application launch” in which a click of a button can start different programs if it is clicked once, twice or held down for several seconds
links in full news
http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:Z0oG5DoK3w0J:www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/02/1086058889577.html+microsoft+patented+mouse+click&hl=it
or
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/04/1086203602853.html