Microsoft has now entered the realm of those companies who don’t wish to earn money, they wan to sue for it. It is understandable, since the company has run out of ideas, and is repackaging things from Windows 3.1 as ‘new and important’ ideas in Windows 7. The Xbox is not selling as well as it once was, with many not having the amount of disposable income of happier days.
don’t let Pope Ballmer take over the world of computing - fight back
Now it has set its sights on a company that is not a producer of a strain of Linux, but a company that uses a strain of Linux to accomplish something. You have to give it to those Microsoft guys, they have always known where to go for the money.
The article from Betanews explains a little further -
This week, Microsoft issued a copyright infringement suit in US district court and with the US International Trade Commission against Dutch PND maker TomTom, claiming the company has violated eight of Microsoft’s patents.
From Microsoft’s filing with the USITC, the company says, “The portable navigation computing devices in question run a version of the Linux operating system, which is a general purpose operating system capable of supporting a wide variety of software applications. For example, the Linux operating system on the portable navigation computing devices executes a navigation application that uses the GPS data provided by the GPS receiver to generate driving directions. The Linux operating system used in the personal navigation computing device and/or the software applications supported by the operating system also provide the devices with additional functionality such as file system support for long and short file names, memory management for flash memory commonly used on such devices, and a platform for integrating and controlling various electronic components used with the portable navigation computing devices, such as other components in a vehicle.”
The three Microsoft patents the company cites in this passage are the following: #5,579,517 and #5,758,352 — “Common Name Space for Long and Short Filenames” #6,256,642 — “Method and System for File System Management Using a Flash-Erasable, Programmable, Read-only Memory”
The other five patents in the federal case are more general in nature, involving the fundamental technology of portable navigation devices. This is reportedly the third time Microsoft has sued TomTom over intellectual property rights, but many are wondering what a suit against a Linux implementer means in the company’s overall stance on open source.
Andrew Updegrove of tech law firm Gesmer Updegrove says this case is, “No sea change. At most, [it's] a minor course correction” which reflects several things. First, Horacio Gutierrez was promoted to the top licensing spot only a week ago and this is an assertion of his position there. The move will strengthen the credibility of the licensing team who are going to be looking for licensing fees from smaller companies making mobile devices and netbooks in the coming months. Microsoft has reportedly established over 500 patent licensing deals since 2004.
Updegrove says it also reflects “the ongoing internal divisions within Microsoft between the proprietary old guard and the more enlightened new guys (including Ozzie) that either ‘get’ open source software, or at least understand that Microsoft’s customers do. With layoffs, a bad quarter, and the specter of further losses to Linux-based netbooks and mobile devices clouding the view ahead, perhaps it was politically expedient to throw the old guard a bone.”
“What I don’t see, really, is any likelihood that a major shift has occurred, and that this is the beginning of the long-feared Microsoft vs. Linux Armageddon.” Updegrove said, “Simply put, it just doesn’t make sense.”
This is getting just a bit too precious. Microsoft will probably next be suing the New York Times and asking a royalty for each time the word Windows is used, whether in reference to a computer or a building. This is about that ridiculous.
Hopefully the judges in place when this comes to trial will be a great deal more reasonable than the ones of recent years, that have upheld far fetched and wide ranging claims of software and hardware companies.
Darth Beelzebub Ballmer (his other name) rallying the troops of darkness
It’s time to vote against this outrage with removal of what the company wants most, your dollars. This time it’s TomTom, the next time around it will be a microwave manufacturer, or the manufacturer of a specialized refrigerator. Microsoft knows there is no money in suing any Linux distributor directly, so they go after those trying to make a buck without genuflecting towards Redmond.
Help these little guys out.
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It¢s Time to Boycott Microsoft Over Its Continuing Patent Claims
27 Feb 2009, 09:01 AM
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