Thanks to commenter Walter Oaknight I was led to a nice layman-language analysis of the current state of the fight over Eolas' Web patent. The unbylined column in ClientServerNews notes a couple of new things, not least of which is that some of the language in the '906 patent review may give Microsoft an out. That is, the patent language may in fact be valid (novel, not covered by prior art, etc.) but may cover things different from what Eolas says it covers.

However, even if this particular patent is evaded, the column points to another broader patent portfolio that may cover the core technology of displaying inline active content. I'm also concerned that one or more of these patents might be close enough to torpedo AJAX, which I think is the most interesting new tech paradigm to emerge on the Web in some time.