Microsoft patent claim on embedded Linux?
,----[ Quote ]
| I doubt it. I doubt Microsoft has been any more forthcoming in private about
| its patent claims than it has in public. I used to work for a large Japanese
| company (Mitsui & Co.). I also used to work for an embedded Linux vendor.
| Between the two roles I discovered that Japanese electronics companies use a
| lot of Linux and they're also very conservative.
|
| Mix the two together, with a finger-pointing, brash American FUD-meister like
| Microsoft, and you get a patent deal. I don't think there's much more to it
| than that.
|
| Regardless, Linux had a strong toehold in embedded Linux before Microsoft
| even thought of being relevant there. If nothing else, I'm guessing any
| claims around embedded Linux would be swatted down on prior art (whether
| that's from Linux or VxWorks, pSOS, etc.).
`----
http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9819343-16.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=TheOpenRoad
He used to work in an embedded Linux company (Lineo), so he should know.
Microsoft is getting desperate in its fight against mobile/embedded Linux,
which spreads like fire. It has already tried "dumping" its products (Windows
CE for $3), it has just invested many more millions, and it even tries to buy
developers' love with freebies (bribery). Now they try patents, as a last
resort.
Related:
$3 Windows a threat to Linux?
,----[ Quote ]
| Meanwhile, in the embedded market, Microsoft attempted to counter
| the low costs of using embedded Linux with a $3 Windows CE licensing
| program launched back in 2003.
`----
http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS6846555964.html
LG, Microsoft link on licences
,----[ Quote ]
| Under the agreement, LG will be able to use Microsoft-patented
| technology in its products, including Linux-based embedded devices.
`----
http://australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,21865863-15306,00.html
The Be Very Afraid Tour and a Word About that Patent Study
,----[ Quote ]
| Thanks to a patent system that went overboard issuing patents,
| which the Supreme Court in its recent KSR ruling brings to a
| screeching halt, many previously issued patents aren't worth
| the paper they are printed on. Nearly half of all patents that
| were brought to trial under the old patent system's definition
| of obviousness were thrown out. If you apply KSR's standard of
| nonobviousness, as the highest court says you must, how many
| patents would survive? What, you think Microsoft's patent on
| IS NOT is not obvious? So the threat isn't as big as it might
| appear.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070517083516872
Microsoft needs to lay off the Linux FUD
,----[ Quote ]
| It is almost a year since Microsoft struck its controversial intellectual
| property deal with Novell, and almost five months since the company claimed
| that various pieces of unspecified open source software are chock-full of
| Microsoft patent infringements, but when it comes down to the question of
| exactly what IP Microsoft is talking about, we are still none the wiser.
|
| [..]
|
| Without any kind of substantive claims to back up these statements, this is
| pretty much the dictionary definition of FUD. Fear, uncertainty and doubt.
|
| The same kind of blathering that drove The SCO Group into the ground.
`----
http://cbr.co.za/news.aspx?pklNewsId=26793&pklCategoryID=385
|
|
