Re: BOO! Microsoft.
 

ugh, one can patent the installation of a computer in a car?!

someone please hit me over head with a mainframe!

Re: BOO! Microsoft.
 

If you're US citizen and want to complain, you can do so at www.uspto.gov :)

Re: BOO! Microsoft.
 

That will get you nowhere, fast.

Re: BOO! Microsoft.
 

Right on...

The kids in the room I spoke of earlier were/are any company with a product that is building a user interface on an OS other than Microsoft.

With everyone from refrigerator to toaster oven manufacturers making a decisions about future electronic user interfaces for their products, this law suit might give pause to someone considering building on Linux.

... and that pause sometimes is all that is needed.

***

I believe Microsoft is very afraid of Linux's potential to piss in whatever future revenue streams it may foresee coming from @home, automotive, and mobile communications products.

Re: BOO! Microsoft.
 

There are hundreds and hundreds of these lawsuits every year.

But this is that one huge mega armageddon of a lawsuit that makes all the dominos fall for all of the electronics manufacturers in the world? :confused: Gee, thanks for the heads up :rolleyes:

Re: BOO! Microsoft.
 

Wow, and these are more examples of why patents are often ******ed.

Re: BOO! Microsoft.
 

Byte me with the heads up, sarcasm dude. I just posted what I saw and I am commenting on the threads responses. :)

Lets sum up shall we...

1. I posted here because it involved some MS patent infringement issues that looked to be file system-management techniques inherent to the Linux kernel itself.

2. The article stated that on the face of it, "It seems like the Linux issue is less important to Redmond than the GPS patents ", and that Microsoft's deputy general counsel said that there aren't any broader plans to go after Linux vendors.

3. I called BS on anything MS legal says or does based on past observations.

4. I also believed that TomTom was chosen not for it's GPS patent infringement rather, because of TomTom Go Linux. (There are plenty of GPS navigation systems out there that would purportedly infringe on MS patents. Some by companies with more assets than TomTom.)

5. Big things begin as small decisions. Small decisions like what OS to use for an automobile, or to manage a home theater from a cable box, or home telephony, or a freakin' refrigerator and a pantry; and what OS manages how all these systems communicate among themselves and their masters are made by their individual manufacturers. Linux often lends itself to an in-house solution. MS, not so much.

In a cyclical economy business decisions often happen within a relatively small window of time. Once enough of those small decisions are made and the answer is the same, it doesn't matter if the decision was right or wrong, a tipping point (for lack of a better term) occurs and the benefactor will prevail with any decisions that remain.


***

Now you can agree or disagree with any of the above. You can ask for clarification (especially that last bit, LoL). Hell, you can even take this thread off in a whole new direction. It won't hurt my feelings. But, on a friendly board such as we have here, sarcasm always weirds me out. I don't know what point to respond to. :)

Re: BOO! Microsoft.
 

It's really #3. TomTom is so tiny that they really don't give a rip about them. If they really did care about the fat patent, they'd be all over Garmin and the others too since they use Linux. No, this is all about Linux FUD, because TomTom is small enough, and in bad enough straights that they can easily be pushed around and used as an example in Microsof'ts war against Linux.

Re: BOO! Microsoft.
 

Your "summary" is a lot different than the "Microsoft is trying to intimidate anyone with a user interface on an OS other than Microsoft" post that deserved the sarcasm it got.

You obviously don't have the needed knowledge in patents or IPR or antitrust. By saying what you did, you may incorrectly influence people who don't know better and think that you do know these topics. I am not disputing that MS are monopolistic sons of *****es. Go ahead and bash them all you want. But that posting was waaay out there. I'm sick and tired of people purporting to say "how it works" when they really don't know.

And if I ever make a post purporting to give the lowdown about some aspect of programming, but the post is ludicrous to those know programming, then you are free to pull out the sarcasm button on me or call BS on me too... ;)

Re: BOO! Microsoft.
 

Wow! Apparently we have a difference of opinion... Because of that, I don't dare suppose you know what you know or don't know. We must be different that way.


Nope... not the opinion I wished to communicate. Rather, Microsoft MAY BE trying to influence future decisions about using an OS other than Microsoft's for a user interface.

I further purport that Linux poses a threat to MS in that the longer it takes for these future devices to get to market, the more comfortable in house designers, engineers, and decision makers become with Linux.

Now I am not a lawyer, I don't even play one on TV. I don't purport to be one buddy. But hey, you don't know what I know or who I am.

I posted a reference to an article I found on the internet in what I believe to be a relevant forum.