The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office just published a patent application by Microsoft that may raise some eyebrows.
"Like" an application, "recommend it" to a friend and you are in patent territory.
Microsoft says that the sheer number of applications makes it more and more difficult for software developers to reach the eyeballs they need to score downloads. A viral distribution method that is based on word of mouth to distribute software may be much more effective in the future, a patent application that was filed in November 2010 claims.
