Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 15th Aug 2011 12:04 UTC
Okay once again I'm breaking my own one-week time-off from OSNews due to, you know, taking a break and being too busy with other things, but this one is big - very big. Also, only the second time in OSNews history we've used the 'breaking'-tag. Google has just announced it is going to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion (more here). While providing Google with a dedicated mobile phone business, it also gives Google ownership of one of the most valuable mobile technology patent portfolios in existence. Update: Responses from the Android ecosystem are positive. HTC: "We welcome the news of today's acquisition, which demonstrates that Google is deeply committed to defending Android, its partners, and the entire ecosystem." Sony Ericsson & LG: "We welcome Google's commitment to defending Android and its partners."
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RE[4]: Comment by shmerl
by galvanash on Tue 16th Aug 2011 01:48
in reply to "RE[3]: Comment by shmerl"
Member since:2006-01-25
In that case I agree with you, but... My only caveat is you contention that a "significant" number of MMI patents would be relevant to Linux and WebM. I suspect there might be a few, but I doubt it would even be in the double digits. Most of MMI's patents are going to be on hardware inventions and communications processes... Just saying.
Now if Google were to create a community pool based on the MMI patents (like it did with On2's), that would probably go a long way to appease the naysayers. It would also make the Samsungs and HTCs of the world a lot more comfortably with the arrangement (I know they are publicly supportive, but it must make them at least a little nervous). I personally expect them to do exactly this once the dust settles.
RE[5]: Comment by shmerl
by lemur2 on Tue 16th Aug 2011 01:52
in reply to "RE[4]: Comment by shmerl"
Member since:2007-02-17
In that case I agree with you, but... My only caveat is you contention that a "significant" number of MMI patents would be relevant to Linux and WebM. I suspect there might be a few, but I doubt it would even be in the double digits. Most of MMI's patents are going to be on hardware inventions and communications processes... Just saying. Now if Google were to create a community pool based on the MMI patents (like it did with On2's), that would probably go a long way to appease the naysayers. It would also make the Samsungs and HTCs of the world a lot more comfortably with the arrangement (I know they are publicly supportive, but it must make them at least a little nervous). I personally expect them to do exactly this once the dust settles.
Agreed. It makes perfect sense for Google to do this, and then for any manufacturer interested in making Android mobile devices to then join this new community patent pool.
Microsoft can then kiss goodbye to the extortion payments they are trying to extract from makers of Android devices, IMO.
RE[4]: Comment by shmerl
by lemur2 on Tue 16th Aug 2011 03:15
in reply to "RE[3]: Comment by shmerl"
Member since:2007-02-17
For example, according to Oracle, the Java-related patents at issue are not specific to Linux, and therefore are not relevant to the OIN community pool. Since Java is cross-platform, Oracle are probably right here.
Having said that, apparently if they do buy MMI one of the things Google will be buying is a JavaME license.
RE[5]: Comment by shmerl
by El_Exigente on Sat 20th Aug 2011 07:43
in reply to "RE[4]: Comment by shmerl"
Member since:2007-01-08
It is a very safe assumption that the MMI Java license is strictly limited in scope, rights, transferability, etc. Because it is doubtful that Sun's lawyers were completely incompetent, and it would unfair to judge their lawyers' competence by assuming it is on a par with Jonathan Schwartz' competence (or lack thereof.)
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/26/13 18:48 UTC
"A tiny 32 bit kernel written in Rust. I was inspired to download Rust and try to do this after seeing zero.rs - a stub that lets Rust programs run almost freestanding. It paints the screen bright red and then hangs. That's it."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/26/13 12:24 UTC
"Today I pushed out a new ISO of my Wayland Live CD project, which is named for my favorite celebrity. For this new Wayland CD, I wrote a new login manager with Bash and Zenity and Expect (and Script) that fully runs on a Wayland server (weston). Now X is no longer involved in the boot process, and X does not start, (unless you use an X application with xwayland), because I replaced LightDM with the new loginmanager."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/25/13 0:45 UTC
"So in summary... Google has pulled the plug on support on a protocol they've helped popularize, after years of promising interoperability, for reasons that are dubious at best, and in a way that leaves people who don't jump to the new Hangouts app unable to talk to their contacts without any feedback that their IMs aren't getting through... And they've done that with no warning to anyone. I imagine there's a bunch of people out there wondering where some of their buddies have gone, or why their messages aren't getting responses, because this isn't documented anywhere." Google really messed this up. Such a dick move.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 23:59 UTC
The Tizen Greek Community has some screenshots of a very recent build of Tizen running on a Samsung GT-i8800. It looks wholly unremarkable.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 22:33 UTC
Joint statement to The Next Web from Microsoft and Google: "Microsoft and YouTube are working together to update the new YouTube for Windows Phone app to enable compliance with YouTube's API terms of service, including enabling ads, in the coming weeks. Microsoft will replace the existing YouTube app in Windows Phone Store with the previous version during this time." Good to know these children stopped acting like little pricks. Can we have full Google support in Windows 8 now, please?
Linked by Howard Fosdick on 05/24/13 21:41 UTC
Yahoo is acquiring Tumblr, the microblogging and social networking website, for $1.1 billion USD. Tumblr offers little revenue but lots of eyeballs if Yahoo can monetarize them. Now Yahoo is bidding for Hulu, the streaming video service. After years of ineffective responses while Google, Facebook, and others took large chunks of the online advertising market, Yahoo is fighting back. Can Yahoo reignite the momentum it had at the turn of the century? What do you think?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 14:44 UTC
"Sources have described iOS 7 as 'black, white, and flat all over'. This refers to the dropping of heavy textures and the addition of several new black and white user interface elements." I couldn't be happier.
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.More News »
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Member since:
2007-02-17
I said all of MMI's relevant patents. I should perhaps have been clearer and said instead "all of MIM's patents relevant to the pool".
In the case of the OIN pool, the pool is for Linux-related patents.
In the case of the WebM pool, the pool is for video codec patents.
A significant number of the MMI patents will be rleated to one or the other of these pools. All such patents will automatically be licensed to all of the members of the relevant pool.
For example, according to Oracle, the Java-related patents at issue are not specific to Linux, and therefore are not relevant to the OIN community pool. Since Java is cross-platform, Oracle are probably right here.