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____/ nessuno@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx on Friday 10 October 2008 17:02 : \____
> <Quote>
> Rejected by Yahoo!, outgunned by Google and humiliated by Apple, it's
> fighting for its survival
>
> On the face of it, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Gordon Brown don't
> have much in common.
>
> One is a plain speaking, unpretentious, horny-handed son of toil who,
> after what seemed like an eternity, took over the top job from his
> best friend – only to find himself in charge of a crumbling empire
> with no clear direction, declining popularity and endless media
> coverage of his smoother, more stylish rival. The other is the Prime
> Minister.
>
> The comparison isn't as bizarre as it might seem. With the departure
> of Bill Gates, Ballmer has inherited a Microsoft whose position looks
> much less secure than it did in the Gates era. Despite massive
> spending on search, Microsoft's market share is dwarfed by Google.
> It's outflanked in entertainment and mobile computing by Apple, it's
> losing browser market share to Firefox, and Silverlight is barely
> scratching Adobe's Flash.
>
> The 'Wow' marketing campaign for Vista has been replaced with the more
> desperate 'if you try it, you might not hate it' Mojave campaign...
> Forrester reports that 8.8 per cent of enterprise customers have
> migrated to Vista; 87 per cent are still running XP. The 'mixed
> reaction' has been a gift for Apple, whose 'Mac vs PC' campaign mocked
> Microsoft ruthlessly. The ads worked: according to BMO Capital Markets
> analyst Keith Bachman, "More than 50 per cent of customers buying Macs
> in Apple stores are first time buyers."
>
> Apple is now the third biggest computer manufacturer in the US and the
> sixth biggest worldwide, with a US market share of 8.5 per cent –
> compared to two per cent in 1996. While the PC market grew 4.2 per
> cent in the last year, Mac sales are up by 38 per cent. It has 17.2
> per cent of the UK educational PC market and its iPhone came from
> nowhere to grab 27 per cent of the American smartphone market. [And
> Macs "just work", no crapware...]
>
> [iPhone aims for the stars, MS plans to copy features...IE, Flash,
> Silverlight...]
>
> Silverlight's availability for Firefox is another sign that Microsoft
> recognises reality: while the resurrected IE team is making very good
> browsers that address IE's legacy of poor security and standards
> support, the firm knows that its days of near-100 per cent browser
> market share are long gone.
>
> Despite Microsoft's best efforts, its share of the search market is
> dismal. [Struggles to catch up...] In July, Steve Ballmer told
> analysts that search was a key part of Microsoft's future. "There's a
> $1trillion market being transformed. That is such a huge opportunity.
> We have to seize it...This is a long-term battle for our company—and
> it's one we'll continue to fight with persistence and tenacity."
>
> Microsoft's entertainment portfolio looks decidedly mixed. The Xbox
> 360 has done very well, but the Zune music player is an also-ran and
> Microsoft's attempts to rival iTunes have been less than
> impressive....However, PS3 sales are catching up fast and Nintendo's
> Wii already outsells both consoles. "Sony's PS3 and the Nintendo Wii
> are competing on different fronts."
> </Quote>
>
> http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/pc/has-microsoft-lost-it--470879
Don't worry. Microsoft has a second life -- as a patent troll.
"From hackers to financial analysts, the question of what happens next is
occupying the minds of many in the IT industry – not all of them as
well-informed as Pamela Jones, the good fairy behind Groklaw, a website which
follows such cases. She has told Infoworld that Microsoft will be the next SCO
Group; the company has been loudly rattling its patent sabres, claiming
earlier this year that Linux violated mote than 235 Microsoft patents. Whether
Microsoft goes beyond mere sabre rattling and whether SCO manages anything
more than a last gasp is also a question of how you evaluate the course of
court proceedings so far."
http://www.heise-online.co.uk/features/SCO-vs-Linux-mixed-reactions-to-Novell-Unix-copyright-verdict--/110819
To Microsoft's help you'll see some trolls showing up... the likes of Myhrvold
and Acacia.
Nathan Myhrvold: Alpha patent troll?
,----[ Quote ]
| Former Microsoft exec Nathan Myhrvold has been collecting patents, extracting
| fees from technology companies via his company Intellectual Ventures. Is
| Myhrvold a patent troll with tech cred?
|
| The Wall Street Journal has a long account of Myhrvold’s patent collecting
| efforts and how he is winning multimillion dollar payments from the likes of
| Verizon and Cisco. These payments are top secret material, but Myhrvold’s
| firm is the one reaping the rewards. Intellectual Ventures has more than
| 20,000 patents. In many respects, Myhrvold is just a patent trader. A few
| lawsuits could define him as a troll quickly though.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=10069
Invention Capitalism & the Law: Checking in on Nathan Myhrvold
,----[ Quote ]
| Myhrvold told the WSJ that he acknowledges facing resistance from companies
| he targets for licenses. But his patent inventory gives him leverage to
| extract settlements without litigation. “I say, ‘I can’t afford to sue you on
| all of these, and you can’t afford to defend on all these,’” he said.
`----
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/09/17/invention-capitalism-the-law-checking-in-on-nathan-myhrvold/
Transcript: Myhrvold of Intellectual Ventures
,----[ Quote ]
| Nathan Myhrvold: The genesis of this idea was when I was at Microsoft. We had
| a problem with patent liability. All these people were coming to sue us or
| demand payment. And Bill (Gates) asked me to think about if there was a
| solution. This is what I came up with.
|
| WSJ: So you think that you're actually protecting companies from more
| settlements or bigger payments down the road?
`----
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122142717791833671.html
Tech Guru Riles the Industry By Seeking Huge Patent Fees
,----[ Quote ]
| Millionaire Nathan Myhrvold, renowned in the computer industry as a
| Renaissance man, has a less lofty message for tech companies these days: Pay
| up.
|
| Over the past few years, the former Microsoft Corp. executive has quietly
| amassed a trove of 20,000-plus patents and patent applications related to
| everything from lasers to computer chips. He now ranks among the world's
| largest patent-holders -- and is using that clout to press tech giants to
| sign some of the costliest patent-licensing deals ever negotiated.
`----
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122161127802345821.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Controversial patent buyer to start Indian operations in Oct
,----[ Quote ]
| New Delhi: Individual inventors and research organizations here may find
| their patents turning liquid with the imminent entry of Intellectual Ventures
| Llc., a controversial company that owns an estimated 20,000 patents and is in
| the market for as many more as it can lay its hands on.
|
| The company has already entered into agreements to buy patents from the
| Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Indian Institute of Technology,
| Bombay, and is close to signing an agreement with the Council for Scientific
| and Industrial Research, India’s largest research and development
| organization, said a person familiar with the developments who did not want
| to be named.
`----
http://www.livemint.com/2008/09/25001325/Controversial-patent-buyer-to.html
Intellectual Ventures turns its attention to India
,----[ Quote ]
| Intellectual Ventures is moving into India says a report published this
| weekend. According to the Wall Street Journal’s Livemint Lounge, IV has
| signed deals to acquire patents from the Indian Institute of Science,
| Bangalore, IIT in Bombay, while it is close to signing an agreement with
| Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
|
| What the report does not say is whether this is a deal for Indian patents,
| for US patents or for patents internationally. My guess is that there is
| going to have to be a pretty substantial international element. On that
| front, it is worth noting that CSIR is by far the biggest Indian filer of
| international patent applications, filing over 350 in the US alone between
| 2005 and 2007.
`----
http://www.iam-magazine.com/blog/Detail.aspx?g=ddfbe681-4599-4ea3-b329-a7b63e1fdd44
"Intellectual property is the next software."
--Nathan Myhrvold
http://www.newsweek.com/id/55777/page/2
- --
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | while (sig==sig) sig=!sig;
http://Schestowitz.com | GNU/Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
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http://iuron.com - next generation of search paradigms
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