Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 5th Jul 2011 22:12 UTC
"One of Microsoft's hottest new profit centers is a smartphone platform you've definitely heard of: Android. Google's Linux-based mobile operating system is a favorite target for Microsoft's patent attorneys, who are suing numerous Android vendors and just today announced that another manufacturer has agreed to write checks to Microsoft every time it ships an Android device. Microsoft's latest target is Wistron Corp., which has signed a patent agreement 'that provides broad coverage under Microsoft's patent portfolio for Wistron's tablets, mobile phones, e-readers and other consumer devices running the Android or Chrome platform', Microsoft announced." That's the reality we live in, folks. This is at least as criminal - if not more so - than Microsoft's monopoly abuse late last century. After the Nortel crap, it's completely left the black helicopter camp for me: Microsoft, Apple, and several others are working together to fight Android the only way they know how: with underhand mafia tactics. Absolutely sickening. Hey Anonymous, are you listening? YES I WENT THERE.
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RE[4]: Patents are patents
by BluenoseJake on Tue 5th Jul 2011 23:08
in reply to "RE[3]: Patents are patents"
Member since:2005-08-11
They aren't killing Android, they are profiting from it, if it's bringing in millions a year, for absolutely no effort, MS would be stupid to do anything other than rattle a few cages, and make money for nothing, chicks for free. They rattled them for years against Linux, and it came to nothing, it'll come to nothing now.
Let them make their money, Android will survive anyway. Calling for an illegal response to something that is not identifiably illegal, now that's wrong. Wrong or right, MS is operating in the bounds of the legal system, it may be sleazy, but it might just be legal.
Calling on Anonymous isn't going to change the laws, but with MS money hunting the perpetrators, it will get some people arrested.
RE[5]: Patents are patents
by Thom_Holwerda on Tue 5th Jul 2011 23:17
in reply to "RE[4]: Patents are patents"
Member since:2005-06-29
RE[5]: Patents are patents
by lemur2 on Tue 5th Jul 2011 23:39
in reply to "RE[4]: Patents are patents"
Member since:2007-02-17
They aren't killing Android, they are profiting from it, if it's bringing in millions a year, for absolutely no effort, MS would be stupid to do anything other than rattle a few cages, and make money for nothing, chicks for free. They rattled them for years against Linux, and it came to nothing, it'll come to nothing now. Let them make their money, Android will survive anyway. Calling for an illegal response to something that is not identifiably illegal, now that's wrong. Wrong or right, MS is operating in the bounds of the legal system, it may be sleazy, but it might just be legal. Calling on Anonymous isn't going to change the laws, but with MS money hunting the perpetrators, it will get some people arrested.
Gambling is legal too in many juisdictions, but people still get ripped off.
It is perfectly legitimate for people to complain against gambling, and try to get it banned, because it harms people. One could argue that this is the only humanitarian, moral thing to do.
Just because they system allows big business to rip people off is no reason why people should not complain about it and try to get it (example gambling) made illegal, or at least heavily constrained so that people are not harmed, as it should be.
Quite a good parallel exists with software patents.
RE[5]: Patents are patents
by viton on Wed 6th Jul 2011 16:08
in reply to "RE[4]: Patents are patents"
Member since:2005-08-09
RE[4]: Patents are patents
by WorknMan on Tue 5th Jul 2011 23:24
in reply to "RE[3]: Patents are patents"
Member since:2005-11-13
They may be within their rights according to the law - but just because something's a law doesn't make it right.
If they're operating within their rights according to the law, then they're most definitely not criminal.
Maybe what they're doing is technically 'immoral', and maybe it isn't. But the fact is that these giant corporations have been suing each other on a regular basis for as long as I have been following tech news, and no amount of bitching on blogs like this has changed a goddamn thing.
Therefore, please stop writing about these patent lawsuits. The only thing you're doing by proclaiming from the rooftops that 'software patents are wrong/broken' is preaching to the choir, and I can't imagine that even the choir hasn't gotten sick of this rhetoric.
Not saying I agree, and not saying I disagree either. Point is, I'm not the one getting sued, so I don't give a shit. If company x being sued because of patent y means that I have to pay an additional $2 for product z, I'm not going to lose sleep over it.
Enough is enough already.
RE[5]: Patents are patents
by JAlexoid on Wed 6th Jul 2011 15:54
in reply to "RE[4]: Patents are patents"
Member since:2009-05-19
You are not familiar with supply chain finances, are you?
That $2 on a product will be inflated to $20 with no problems. A few % here and a few % there...
And no, if you lower your guard you'll end up with the same software patent laws as US. One of my acquaintances an EU "lobbyist" and an IP lawyer said that the big companies that were pushing software patents on EU are just playing the waiting game at the moment. Waiting for exactly the "Enough is enough already."
RE[5]: Patents are patents
by danger_nakamura on Thu 7th Jul 2011 05:46
in reply to "RE[4]: Patents are patents"
Member since:2011-06-21
Features
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
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This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/02/13 15:28 UTC
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/18/13 11:21 UTC
Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/16/13 9:29 UTC
The day has finally come: Google has started shipping Google Glass to the lucky few early adopters. Now that it's shipping, Google has also unveiled a lot more about the API and the specifications of the device itself. While the company had already given out substantial details at earlier occasions, there are still a few surprises here.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/15/13 22:44 UTC
Almost exactly three years ago, I wrote about why OSNews was no longer OSNews: the alternative operating system scene had died, and OSNews, too, had to go with the times and move towards reporting on a new wave of operating systems - mobile, and all the repercussions that the explosion of smartphones and tablets have caused. Still, I was wondering something today: why aren't we seeing alternative operating systems on mobile?More Features »
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Member since:
2005-06-29
They may be within their rights according to the law - but just because something's a law doesn't make it right.