Do you have a URL where this is touted as "innovative", since you used quote marks? Because I believe it was introduced as a way to be consistent with iOS and how users scroll using that OS. No one was filing patents on this one, however.
Because the Moore’s law has petered out and software bloat reached unimaginable levels and is incomprehensible to its authors thus we are getting “innovations” of this sort.
Hey, did you see the new animated emoji pack the new version is shipping with? Really should check it out!