I thought "how" was the whole point. Imagine I invent an air conditioner that's 100x more effective or efficient based on a new mechanical process I invented. I damn well better be able to patent that "how" despite a century of prior art in "what".
Yes, but that's the opposite situation to many software patents. If air conditioners didn't yet exist you shouldn't be able to patent just the idea of an air conditioner without coming up with an effective design for one.
The One Click patent would be like patenting just the idea of an air conditioner because once you have that idea any software developer worth his salt could implement it.
