Posted on 02/26/2009 5:24:46 AM PST by ShadowAce
Once a year, Microsoft president Steve Ballmer, would proclaim that Linux violated some of Microsoft patents. Then, he wouldn't do anything about it. Now, perhaps, he has.
In the U.S. District Court in Seattle, Microsoft sued Tom-Tom (PDF Link) on the ground that Tom-Tom's in-car navigation devices violate eight of its patents. At least three of these patents, concerning file management, reference TomTom's Linux kernel implementation.
This is the first time that Microsoft has ever filed a Linux patent suit over Linux, despite its multiple claims. That said, according to Todd Bishop, "Microsoft says open-source software is not the intended focal point of the action."
In the past, Microsoft has supported legal action against Linux. Microsoft infamously funneled money to SCO to fuel its lawsuits against IBM and other Linux-using companies. With SCO's complete failure to even prove that it had any rights to Unix, never mind Linux, there was no longer any even half-credible legal actions against Linux.
It's also worth noting that while Microsoft has often threatened Linux-related companies, Microsoft has recently made alliances with them as well. This started in 2007 with what has turned into into a close partnership with Novell. More recently, Microsoft partnered with Red Hat.
Bishop also reported that, "Microsoft says it filed the case as a last resort, after trying for more than a year to reach an agreement with TomTom." Horacio Gutierrez, Microsoft corporate vice president and deputy general counsel for intellectual property, also told Bishop that, Microsoft would be happy to quickly resolve the TomTom dispute by a license.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.computerworld.com ...
Linux is very cool and does not act anything like Windows.....believe me, I know. The Unix based OS is very good with the only drawbacks being limited driver availability. File conversion formats are now becoming status quo. MS can take a flying leap. Microshaft can try and do what they want here in the US, but, Linux is growing world-wild.
I rec’d a Navion GPS as a gift. I was surprised to see that it ran on MS CE embedded.
OK, no I wasn’t surprised, after a week. It crashed and kept displaying an error message that said “boot loader failure”.
I still have it...somewhere. LOL
This will increse MS’ popularity....
If Microsoft is going to sue anyone, they should sue themselves. They sell Suse Linux OS’s and supported SCO Unix’s suit against Linux(which they lost). This is what a dying corporation looks like. Not very graceful.
world-wild=world wide. MS has screwed themselves with their attitude and lame product launches riddle with security holes and lock ups.
“I rec’d a Navion GPS as a gift. I was surprised to see that it ran on MS CE embedded.
OK, no I wasn’t surprised, after a week. It crashed and kept displaying an error message that said “boot loader failure”.”
Same here. And consequently, I bought a Mio Moov to replace it and it runs on Linux.
Microsoft has been violating others’ patents for years now. Problem is, no one had any legal war chest to take them to court.
You realize, of course, that a certain bird will be by shortly demanding that you prove that assertion?
I sent it back to them, after a month of wrangling, and they flashed it with a newer version. I turned it on, and it seemed to work, then I tossed it on a shelf in the garage.
I really don’t like software with a “toy-ish” looking interface, anyway.
About a year ago, I gave-a, gave-a, gave-a Garmin to myself - has worked flawlessly from the beginning.
Hey I got an idea - the RIAA could sue their customers for illegally downloading music - oh wait.
“Microsoft has been violating others’ patents for years now.
You realize, of course, that a certain bird will be by shortly demanding that you prove that assertion?”
Eek. :)
I have a Garmin Nuvi and several friends and family members do as well - works great as you said - I could think of a few features I would add that it lacks but that’s about it.
Microsoft, today’s SCO.
I did like my Navigon for the whole 3 months it worked. I liked the Reality View feature that would replicate the actual road sign.
To be honest, though, the most important feature is text-to-speech with street names. That way I rarely even have to look at the thing.
Garmin has used several different OS’s in the past. The new Nuviphone-Garmin uses Windows Mobile. What’s yours?
It looks like all that cheap third world labor Microsoft has been using and that has been busy the last 5 years putting out garbage has caught up with them. Their answer: start suing everybody.
Isn’t TOM-TOM a company based in Europe? Is this a backhanded whack at Brussels boys?
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