THE PATENT troll known as Acacia operates under an even larger umbrella ("IP Innovation") and it is operated by some former Microsoft staff, having been paid by Microsoft in recent years (on several occasions in fact). In some ways, Acacia is like another SCO and we've just found an interesting observation from Groklaw, which went through a lot of filings:
The plaintiffs' opening statement, by Arthur A. Gasey of the firm Niro Scavone Haller & Niro, offended me, as he made remarks that were pejorative about Linux, seeming to imply that Open Source software is pirated. And I was puzzled why he would mention Windows, when there is no established connection between Microsoft and these plaintiffs. But he does. For example, here's a brief whiff...
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The jury ruled otherwise, but did you get the feeling that this guy misunderstands Linux? And that he seems to be trying to do Microsoft a favor by painting Linux vendors as… well… thieves? He is stressing how significant it is to have 4 desktops, because they get more money if the feature they claim is infringed is the reason you want the product. Of course, that is the last thing you need in a server, and most of Red Hat and Novell's money comes from servers, so it sort of makes no sense, his little speech.
Comments
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2010-11-11 14:24:18
Specifically, Microsoft's virtual desktop incompetence is portrayed as obedience to patents while Red Hat and Novel are portrayed as theives. For years Microsoft has spun their incompetence as not wanting to "confuse the user" but it has really been an issue of poor design all along. Companies like Nvidia made virtual desktop software for Windows for years, but it was always unwieldy, slow and unstable rather than confusing. It's a good thing these patents were invalidated but a shame that Red Hat was put to the cost over such obvious business methods.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2010-11-11 14:27:44
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2010-11-11 14:55:10
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2010-11-11 15:03:42
I hadn't heard of GPU drivers adding virtual desktop functionality to Windows, but then again I never had a real graphics card when I was a Windows user (90s). Few people even know about the possibilities of multi-head displays (which I found gruesome to work without since age 19).
I wonder how Wayland copes with all of that. I fear that it has catching up to do in some areas.
twitter
2010-11-11 23:15:37
Virtual screens and desktops in Windows is a waste of time, due to performance reasons. Performance with Nvidia's add on was no better than what you noticed with XP. Windows uptime is not long enough for people to organize any of their work and session management in Windows is hit and miss, not to mention hibernation or suspend.
Microsoft people, like the Acacia lawyer, do not misunderstand how GNU/Linux works, they misrepresent it. It is clear that he understood that multiple virtual desktops is something that a 1,500 hour study proved people wanted but other Microsoft mouthpieces claim that the single screen GUI of Windows and daily boots is what people really want.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2010-11-11 23:20:14
So Microsoft+Acacia are the Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron of IT.