It turns out that a lot of people haven't been paying attention. Over the weekend, a story about how Microsoft is earning more from HTC's Android devices than from its own Windows Phone 7 sales spread all across the web, with surprised reactions everywhere. Anyone who has been paying attention to Microsoft's recent patent trolling regarding Android could've seen this coming.
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Member since:2007-09-22
The patents this is case are basically: you are running Linux and now you are in big trouble. Pay us or else !
They are obviously not going after the source of the problem, but these companies selling these products.
Because it brings in more money, obviously.
Maybe it is just me, but I think a government should step in and say, hey if you want to defend this patent you should sue these people.
Edited 2011-05-29 23:10 UTC
Member since:2008-04-10
They aren't going after the source because Google can fight back, and if they had good cause to, could seriously harm Microsoft's bottom line. HTC can't. Google are basically dealing collateral damage to Microsoft with very few areas of direct competition. They don't sell a desktop OS, they don't sell a games console, they don't sell a fully featured office suite. About the only field of direct competition, before Microsoft started bringing the fight to Google in the fields of search and mapping, was free consumer email.
If Google were to, say, contract a few big games developers to develop high budget, headline games for Google TV set top boxes, they'd start directly chiselling away at Microsoft's markets. Neither company really wants a direct confrontation because it would consume a phenomenal amount of time and money. Microsoft's and Google's lawyers would be vieing for the title of "richest man in the world", and the competition would leave the two behind. It's easier to bully a company you could snuff out with a concerted effort at directly competing, if you wanted to.
Member since:
2011-05-29
HTC may have actually violated a set of patents? They settled, so they must think that they can keep making money, or they would have went to court. Smaller companies sue MS all the time!