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On 29/04/10 13:50, Paul Sutton wrote:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Rob Beard wrote:Hi folks, Just seen this on The Register... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/29/microsoft_htc_linux_patents/ I wonder what Google think about this? RobI think as a Linux user group we need to up our game in termns of promoting free software We need to educate people on the dangers of software patents, reports like this will simply put people off using free software as they may thing they are going to get sued or similar. With cuts in the public sector looming this is the last thing the software community need, perhaps its a ploy by microsoft to ensure that people still choose them despite having to save money. Paul
I'd say it's more Microsoft want a piece of the pie. I mean, Windows Mobile isn't doing THAT well compared to iPhone, Android, and Symbian. They probably wouldn't be able to strike up a deal with Apple (even if Apple were infringing some of Microsoft's patents), and I'm not sure about Symbian, maybe they don't see it as much of a threat.
Now with this deal, they'd presumably get a cut from every HTC Android based mobile they sell (HTC already sell Windows Mobile phones). Think of it as a Microsoft tax on Android mobiles. This way it doesn't matter so much if Microsoft don't sell as many Windows phones as they still take a cut of the Android sales.
I think one of the main differences between this and SCO is that SCO went after the end users whereas Microsoft is going after the manufacturers, sure the costs might be passed on to the customer, but a lot of the cost of a phone these days is sucked up in contracts or locking the phone to a network so the costs are recouped, so in a way the customer doesn't see the increase in cost.
Rob -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html