Summary: Sharp pays Microsoft for Android

A FEW days after the last extortion [1, 2] we find that, as usual, the Microsoft boosters are quick to cover a Sharp deal as though it's normal practice that's acceptable and not extortion. They normalise the criminal activity. To quote one such booster, "Sharp has succumbed to the charms of a Microsoft licensing deal for the filing system exFAT.

"Microsoft will license its Extended File Allocation Table technology to Sharp in a deal covering the consumer electronic giant’s Android-based smartphones.

"Sharp joins Panasonic, SANYO, Sony and Canon in coughing up for exFAT from Microsoft.

"ExFAT is Redmond's patented file allocation system for flash drives used to exchange files between a device and desktop PCs. The new system has increased the size of files that flash memory devices can support by up to five times the amount supported by other implementations of FAT systems."

Tuxera helps Microsoft spread such patents. Like sharp, it is a company to avoid. It helps proxify the extortion much of the time.

Microsoft has a massive PR campaign going to sell us a war on Android; it is trying to convince us that racketeering is an acceptable business pracitce and it bribes those who stand up against this. ⬆

"Did you know that I left Novell 11 months ago? I’m not part of the “Novell marketing people” that you seem to think I am. I parted ways with Novell for the very same reasons that you cite about the MS agreement–not its evilness, but the careless disregard for the people that the company never bothered to consult (including me)."

--Ted Haeger