Microsoft Patents XML Serialization

Interesting little tidbit passed through my email today (well actually a day or two ago so I apologise if its already been mentioned). Microsoft has recently been granted a patent for the conversion of objects into XML files. See this tech article regarding the story. The patent itself is here. (Note: The patent listed in the article points to the wrong patent, use the one I have quoted here).

Obviously, this has raised the hackles of many developers due to the open nature of XML, and the fact that MS has patented a procedure that many vendors use, MS being just one of those. I dont know if this will have any effect at all, and I dont have the "patent reading ability" to determine how much scope this patent really has but it will be interesting.