THE DEBT-SADDLED Microsoft, whose sales of Windows are declining quite sharply in recent years (in terms of revenue) along with other products [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7], long ago decided that racketeering [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] will be its business model against GNU/Linux and Free software (it began when Microsoft prioritised patenting -- not development -- around 2007 or before that). Novell legitimised this strategy from Microsoft by actually approaching Microsoft to make that possible.
“In order to extort the Linux-based Android, Microsoft is going past Google and through to distributors.”In 2007, both LG and Samsung (giant companies located in Korea) started paying Microsoft for Linux and currently they use Android (Samsung currently uses Bada, which is Android). These two companies were creating or passively establishing a bad neighbourhood by embracing Android while they were paying Microsoft for Linux. We warned about this many times. That being said, Google was already paying Microsoft for ActiveSync patents and Google is not against software patents, unlike Red Hat for example.
In order to extort the Linux-based Android, Microsoft is going past Google and through to distributors. The same strategy is being used against Red Hat Enterprise Linux as Microsoft targets/taxes its big users, e.g. Amazon. It's about threats and coercion (Microsoft is suing those who do not cooperate). The allegation? Patent violations. But it would hardly be a GUI thing; Microsoft is claiming to have invented (and now "own") some parts that are associated with operating system kernels -- parts it won't even disclosure.
Android and Windows distributor HTC is the latest company which sells out to Microsoft, just shortly after Apple had sued HTC and Microsoft then approached the case in support of Apple. We explicitly warned that there may have been a connection.
According to this morning's news (British time and British press):
HTC pays off Microsoft in Linux protection racket
CONVICTED MONOPOLIST Microsoft has managed to squeeze money from the smartphone maker HTC for using some of its much talked about but never revealed patents that Microsoft claims implicate Linux as part of the Android OS.
According to the Vole's press website, Microsoft and HTC have signed a patent agreement that provides broad coverage under Microsoft's patent portfolio for HTC's mobile phones running the Android mobile operating system. Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft will receive royalties from HTC.
Microsoft's deputy counsel Horacio Gutierrez said the company was in talks with other "device manufacturers to address our concerns relative to the Android mobile platform".
--James Eagleton, systems product manager for Sun Microsystems
Microsoft won’t be dominating the OS much longer
SOFTWARE COLOSSUS Microsoft's dominance of the IT industry will disappear within five years, as it loses its grip on a facet of the industry where smartphone devices will be king.
Comments
Agent_Smith
2010-04-29 05:52:59
gnufreex
2010-04-28 17:28:40
I was thinking, how would be if IBM would use its patent portfolio to make Windows OEMs pay up. That would make M$ either sue or be quiet, it would stop this madness and FUD. It is crazy, I know, but it's just a thought.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2010-04-28 18:32:36
It's passive about policy and a participant in patenting.
IBM and Microsoft cross-license though.
Yuhong Bao
2010-04-29 04:00:47
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2010-04-29 08:00:27
gnufreex
2010-04-28 16:31:24
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2010-04-28 16:35:37