M understanding too is that patents only apply to physical goods, so software manufacturers effectively have to describe their software as if it were a piece of hardcoded electronics, no? Or is that no longer the case?

No, really not -- ever since the business process patent change, you've been able to essentially patent algorithms. I've written a couple of these myself, and while they're rather weird (the patent office has an unhealthy fetish for flowcharts), it doesn't have a lot to do with electronics...