Microsoft Seeking to Patent the Cloud?

Seen on the Slashdot Firehose: TheODP, who has a keen eye for technology patent stories, notes that Microsoft has applied for at least six patents on cloud computing concepts. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie are each named on two of the submissions. Here are links to the applications:

Most of the patent applications were filed in September 2006, about 11 months after Ozzie's famous memo (The Internet Services Disruption). I'm not a patent expert, but there was enough activity in cloud computing (and related terms and technologies) at that time that I gather there may be some interesting discussion about these patent applications and their potential impact.