So much for the <i>"Microsoft doesn't have a history of patent lawsuit trolling. [...] At the end of the day MS is a developer centric company, they pride themselves on the ability to make things, and patents are an annoying side show to that."</i> argument found here: <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1745932" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1745932</a>
What I like about these lawsuits is the possibility that the big players will start aggressively campaigning for patent reform. As long as they all entered into cosy cross-licensing deals with each other, they were running an oligopoly that erected a barrier to entry against upstarts.<p>But now that they're starting to sue each other, the oligopoly's ranks have split and patents are going to bring everything to a stand-still.
Didn't MS pledge not to use their patents offensively?<p>EDIT: <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/interop/principles/osspatentpledge.mspx" rel="nofollow">http://www.microsoft.com/interop/principles/osspatentpledge....</a>
It is absolutely imperative that we all formulate our opinions in ignorance of the patents themselves. Pay no attention to the following words and numbers.<p><pre><code> Common Name Space for Long and Short File Names: 5,579,517
Common Name Space for Long and Short File Names: 5,758,352
Monitoring Entropic Conditions of a Flash Memory Device as an Indicator for Invoking Erasure Operations: 6,621,746
Radio Interface Layer in a Cell Phone with a Set of APIs Having a
Hardware-Independent Proxy Layer and a Hardware-Specific Driver Layer: 6,826,762
Method and System for Managing Changes to a Contact Database: 6,909,910
Flexible Architecture for Notifying Applications of State Changes: 7,644,376
Context Sensitive Menu System/Menu Behavior: 5,664,133
Method and System for Supporting Off-line Mode of Operation and Synchronization Using Resource State Information: 6,578,054
Generating Meeting Requests and Group Scheduling from a Mobile Device: 6,370,566</code></pre>
<i>Our action today merely seeks to ensure respect for our intellectual property rights infringed by Android devices; and judging by the recent actions by Apple and Oracle, we are not alone in this respect.</i><p>Well, it does not make it right.
If only they launched a WinMo 7 device...<p><a href="http://www.goodgearguide.com.au/article/362876/patent_protection_key_windows_phone_license/" rel="nofollow">http://www.goodgearguide.com.au/article/362876/patent_protec...</a>
Microsoft way of life.<p>Ballmer said that the same way they "solved" the netbook problem, they will solve the phone problem. In both cases the solution does not involve technical ability to compete.
A few years ago people were suing each other after getting patents for stuff that already existed by having "via the internet" tagged on the end.<p>Now were in the new age, where all those patents that ended "via the internet" now have "on a mobile telephone" instead.<p>Collecting email on your phone is patented ?<p>Get Fucked Microsoft, shove it up your arse
Isn't there a business niche here, for buying self defense patents?<p>Slogan: "Send $X and the name of the company -- and we'll return a list of patents (and prices to buy them) which that company violate."<p>Edit: Grammar fix.
Godfather walks into the Grocer's and demands they buy their deli meats from him. Grocer says "No thanks, I'm getting my meat free from those other guys. My customers are happy too."<p>Godfather says, "Yes, but not buying from me might expose you to harm in the future."<p>Grocer says, "It's OK, I'm not worried. Besides, who would want to hurt me?"<p>Godfather comes back the next week and shoots him in the kneecap. "See, I warned you someone might come in and hurt you."<p>s/Godfather/Microsoft/g<p>s/Grocer/Motorola/g<p>s/Deli Meat/Android/g<p>Wonder how much fight the next, um, Grocery store will put up.