Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 10th May 2010 14:55 UTC
When Apple sued HTC, and targeted Android specifically (news which came out of the blue), many people, including myself, were convinced this was Apple letting the world know they were afraid of Android's rising popularity. This notion was laughed away by many an Apple fan, but it turns out that this is most likely far closer to reality than many dare to admit: in the first quarter of 2010, Android conquered the number two market share spot from the iPhone in the US - and by a wide margin too. Update: Added a graph which better shows the trend.
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Member since:2010-02-16
H264 is bad because it shackles the web to a proprietary standard, which will hurt innovation and the little guy on the web, while also opening the door to litigation.
MPEG-LA clearly states on the AVC licensing page of their website that only commercially acting enterprises with more than 100,000 customers per year are required to pay licensing fees. All others are free to go.
There is no such clause regarding Android patents by MS.
I tell you who "the little guy" is: It's not someone with more than 100,000 customers per year. It's the self-employed guy who owns a small phone shop and who's now in constant threat to be sued by Microsoft when he sells Android phones that are not from HTC -- no matter if he has less or more than 100,000 customers.
If Microsoft really were certain about its patents being infringed upon, it would have no qualms about showing us the patents in question.
MS showed the affected patents to HTC. If those weren't valid, HTC would not signed the deal. In fact in a potential battle against Microsoft, HTC would have the upper hand: HTC is the biggest manufacturer of Windows Mobile phones.
If HTC was to drop its complete Windows Mobile lineup, Windows Phone 7 would be dead before it even launched. MS would be wiped off the handheld map.
BTW: Did you even ask Microsoft which patents are the cause of the licensing deal? Or are you just making it up that "Microsoft has been remarkably reluctant to show us proof"?
Microsoft has an entire website dedicated to patent licensing, along with a contact e-mail address:
http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/en/us/intellectualproperty/ipl...
Edited 2010-05-10 16:24 UTC
Member since:2009-05-19
HTC is the biggest manufacturer of Windows Mobile phones.
And they are not stupid enough to drop that valuable segment. Plain and simple.
BTW: Did you even ask Microsoft which patents are the cause of the licensing deal?
OSNews probably did not, but CNet did. And the patents remain undisclosed.
Or are you just making it up that "Microsoft has been remarkably reluctant to show us proof"?
Oh, you must be unaware of the claims from Microsoft that Linux infrindes on over 200 patents?
Microsoft has an entire website dedicated to patent licensing, along with a contact e-mail address:
http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/en/us/intellectualproperty/ipl...
http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/en/us/intellectualproperty/ipl...
The only actual publicly disclosed agreement on IP is with Novell. So read the page before you refer to it, please. The only place where HTC appears is "Exchange ActiveSync Protocol Licensees"
Member since:2006-07-30
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 23:22 UTC
"Ilja van Sprundel, a security researcher with IOActive, has discovered a large number of issues in the way various X client libraries handle the responses they receive from servers, and has worked with X.Org's security team to analyze, confirm, and fix these issues."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 22:04 UTC
"Google is facing a new antitrust probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission into whether the company is using its leadership in the online display-advertising market to illegally curb competition, people familiar with the matter said." Sucks to be Google today, apparently.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 22:01 UTC
"In the midst of the major press blitz surrounding its annual I/O Conference, Google dropped some unfortunate news about its instant messaging plans. In several places around the web, the company is replacing the existing 'Talk' platform with a new one called 'Hangouts' that sharply diminishes support for the open messaging protocol known as XMPP (or sometimes informally Jabber), and also removes the option to disable the archiving of all chat communications. These changes represent a switch from open protocols to proprietary ones, and a clear step backward for many users." That's why I always say: only suckers trust companies.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 17:52 UTC
"The wave of departures is a sign of internal struggle, but amidst all the bad news, there is a glimmer of hope. According to an anonymous HTC executive cited by WSJ, the crucial HTC One is selling 'pretty good so far'. The executive revealed that HTC sold about five million One units since launch, a performance that is deemed encouraging. However, sales have been limited by the persisting supply issues that still plague the production of the HTC One." Finally some good news for HTC. Five million units amidst supply constraints is very impressive.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/22/13 22:23 UTC
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. Weâll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that itâs usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/22/13 13:38 UTC
"The Verge has learned that HTC's Chief Product Officer, Kouji Kodera, left the company last week. Kodera was responsible for HTC's overall product strategy, which makes the departure especially notable on the heels of the global launch of the make-or-break One. It's not just Kodera. In the past three-odd months, HTC has lost a number of employees in rapid succession." I really hope HTC pulls it together.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/22/13 13:30 UTC, submitted by JRepin
"It is with huge pleasure that the Debian GNU/Hurd team announces the release of Debian GNU/Hurd 2013. This is a snapshot of Debian 'sid' at the time of the Debian 'wheezy' release (May 2013), so it is mostly based on the same sources. It is not an official Debian release, but it is an official Debian GNU/Hurd port release." Important note: 75% of Debian packages are supported bu Debian GNU/Hurd. Impressive.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 22:06 UTC
"The first killer app was VisiCalc. This early spreadsheet turned the Apple II from a hobbyist toy to a business computer. VisiCalc came with room for improvement, though. In addition, a new architecture and operating system, the Intel-based IBM PC and MS-DOS, also needed a spreadsheet to be taken seriously. That spreadsheet, released in early 1983, would be Lotus 1-2-3, and it would change the world. It became the PC's killer app, and the world would never be the same. On May 14, IBM quietly announced the end of the road for 1-2-3, along with Lotus Organizer and the Lotus SmartSuite office suite. Lotus 1-2-3's day is done." Impressive 30 year run.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:45 UTC
"There's a disconnect between how Apple CEO Tim Cook sees his company's tax strategies and how some members of the US Senate view it. That became clearer than ever today after Cook and two other Apple executives testified before Congress, explaining why they're holding most of their international income in Irish subsidiaries like Apple Operations International, which declare no tax residency anywhere in the world. AOI hasn't filed a tax return anywhere in the world for the last five years, yet it earned $30 billion in income from 2009 to 2012, according to a Senate report released yesterday." Just because something is legal, doesn't mean it's just. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and many more - these companies might not be breaking any laws, but it's obvious to anyone that what they are doing is scummy.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 15:53 UTC
The new WebKit Opera for Android has been released. "Opera 14 for Android is built on top of Chromium 26, with a total overhaul of the UI in native code, making it fit well with the latest Android design guidelines. Go get the build from Google Play or point your browser to m.opera.com, and give it a spin!"More News »
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Member since:
2005-06-29
H264 is bad because it shackles the web to a proprietary standard, which will hurt innovation and the little guy on the web, while also opening the door to litigation.
It's not the deal itself people get angry about - it's the fac tthat despite years of empty threats, we still have not one single shred of proof regarding these so-called patents.
Uhm, we don't know that. HTC might simply be brushing MS off because it is busy enough dealing with Apple. Again, we have no clue as to WHAT Android is supposedly infringing upon. Show us the proof - Microsoft has been remarkably reluctant to do so, which raises a lot of flags.
If Microsoft really were certain about its patents being infringed upon, it would have no qualms about showing us the patents in question. Right now, it reeks of FUD.
Edited 2010-05-10 15:56 UTC