My detail opinion on Android

[bluedog]

Microsoft to get $20 to $40 for every HTC Andriod phone sold

Yesterday we’ve reported about the HTC – Microsoft agreement according to which HTC has agreed to pay royalties to Microsoft, because it turned out that the Taiwanese company’s Android phones use some technology patented by the Redmond giant.

While HTC and Microsoft have not disclosed the financial aspects of the agreement, it looks like HTC may have to pay serious cash to Microsoft.

A Bloomberg article has it that analyst Rob Enderle estimates that HTC, as well as other unnamed phone makers, may have to pay Microsoft $20 to $40 for each Android handset sold. Of course, analyst predictions can be (and often are) wrong. $40 per phone is way too much.

Rob Enderle also says that “Android is going to fall off as an expensive and risky platformâ€￾, unless Google manages to avoid paying that much money to Microsoft.

I’m not sure what Google has to do with the fact that HTC needs to pay royalties. Yes, Android is Google’s, but I think the alleged patent violation is related to hardware rather than to software, or maybe to the way HTC implements Android on its hardware. Otherwise, Microsoft could have directly sued Google, right?

http://www.unwiredview.com/2010/04/29/microsoft-to-get-20-to-40-from-every-htc-android-phone-sold/

 

[BLAQUE PRINCE]

Re: Microsoft to get $20 to $40 for every HTC Andriod phone sold

While HTC and Microsoft have not disclosed the financial aspects of the agreement

And thats where the article could have ended. You'll never know because its most likely under an NDA as every other deal has been. I'm tellin ya'll folk those of us that use Linux know the deal. Amazon signed a similar agreement with MS for their servers. Do you really think Amazon overnight added a significant cost to each server and still plans to use nothing but Linux? More than likely these agreements go something like this....

MS: Ok now that we are approaching you we'll be real. We have no IP in Linux and we aren't going to charge you a thing. But if you don't sign this agreement we'll be happy to revoke that volume licensing on all your other Microsoft applications you have in use.

Company: OK :clap:


However Apple and MS are going to get dangerously close to ticking off some big boys that are invested in Linux like IBM and you certainly don't want them to stand up in any patent war. Not to mention Oracle since they now own Java and Android developers use Java.

 

[bigmanofds]

Re: Microsoft to get $20 to $40 for every HTC Andriod phone sold

And thats where the article could have ended. You'll never know because its most likely under an NDA as every other deal has been. I'm tellin ya'll folk those of us that use Linux know the deal. Amazon signed a similar agreement with MS for their servers. Do you really think Amazon overnight added a significant cost to each server and still plans to use nothing but Linux? More than likely these agreements go something like this....

MS: Ok now that we are approaching you we'll be real. We have no IP in Linux and we aren't going to charge you a thing. But if you don't sign this agreement we'll be happy to revoke that volume licensing on all your other Microsoft applications you have in use.

Company: OK :clap:


However Apple and MS are going to get dangerously close to ticking off some big boys that are invested in Linux like IBM and you certainly don't want them to stand up in any patent war. Not to mention Oracle since they now own Java and Android developers use Java.

I did not know IBM had an investment in Linux.

 

[bigmanofds]

Blaque Prince

Correct me if I am wrong here. I did not know IBM has been backing Linux for about 10 years now. I always thought Linux was something real computer geeks played with. IBM was one of the first to push the open source platform and not just Google. Google is kind of just getting into it. Most IBM servers are Linux base. A lot companies would not give a crop if Microsoft take their ball and go home. In fact I read an article that IBM told it’s employee to stop using Microsoft Office and switch to Open Office-based software call Symphony. So I see what you mean about Microsoft is just talking noise. They are not in a good position.

 

[bluedog]

C'mon people, microsoft is the VHS of computers software.

 

[BLAQUE PRINCE]

Blaque Prince

Correct me if I am wrong here. I did not know IBM has been backing Linux for about 10 years now. I always thought Linux was something real computer geeks played with. IBM was one of the first to push the open source platform and not just Google. Google is kind of just getting into it. Most IBM servers are Linux base. A lot companies would not give a crop if Microsoft take their ball and go home. In fact I read an article that IBM told it’s employee to stop using Microsoft Office and switch to Open Office-based software call Symphony. So I see what you mean about Microsoft is just talking noise. They are not in a good position.

Thats a misconception about Linux mostly spread by software companies like MS that have alot to lose from it. Linux is all over the place. It powers more than 80% of the worlds super computers all the way down to the LCD TV on your wall. The majority of servers on the internet are Linux based. The wireless router you use at your home is often Linux based. Amazon runs entirely on Linux servers and so do Google, Ebay/Paypal and many other major tech/internet companies. IBM is deep in Linux as well. IBM is also way bigger and older than MS and has the patents to shut down anybody they want....but they don't and actually snag up patents to keep others from doing it.

You see software patents make little to no sense. Because rather than patenting a process or an actual implementation you are patenting an idea. Software code is protected by copyright so you cannot just take the actual code someone has written without their permission and just use it. The actual written code is the real work. But to demonstrate what it means to patent an idea....this website your on right now infringes on multiple patents. For instance I believe it is Microsoft that holds the patent on being able to hit "tab" and move to the next field or button on a webpage. Any website that can do this owes royalties to MS (or whoever it was that owns that patent). So even if you wrote some amazing code that did it 10 times better you couldn't do anything with it because it infringes on the idea of tabbing. As you can see if you let this type of stuff run wild nobody would be able to do anything. Microsoft found themselves the victim of this mess a few months ago with some little group that basically dayum near patented the use of XML period. Imagine is someone had patented the use of binary. We may very well not have computers now.

Patents in the software world have become synonymous with nuclear weapons. All the big players could shut each other down completely. Thats why like I said you'll notice MS trying to keep Linux in check by going after mid-sized companies in order to scare the little ones and not telling anyone exactly what patents are in question. The big boys can fire back. Both MS and Apple need to keep Android in check because it will run away with the market easily. But I think they are getting to close to a major player in Google and risk starting the patent nuclear war. There are alot of companies that have it in their best interest to protect Linux and to keep MS and Apple from having monopolies on markets.

Heres an article from when alot of this started.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Linux-and-Open-Source/Author-of-Linux-Patent-Study-Says-Ballmer-Got-It-Wrong/

In a nutshell if Linux infringes on some MS patents then those MS patents probably infringe on some Unix patents. Who knows...that might be why MS ran to Novell first with their deal since Novell owns some of the Unix patents. Novell thought they were gonna become THE Linux vendor because they could distribute it with Microsofts blessing. As we can see nobody gave a rats arse and kept going with Red Hat.

 

[BLAQUE PRINCE]

C'mon people, microsoft is the VHS of computers software.

Yea and IBM is the 8-track tape.

 

[bluedog]

Yea and IBM is the 8-track tape.

You do realize that 8 tracks were more expense than cassette and not as good? VHS not as good but less expensive, therefore it cornered the markrt.

 

[Antroy]

VHS not as good but less expensive, therefore it cornered the markrt.

And nobody uses VHS anymore with the invention of DVDs.

 

[bigmanofds]

Thats a misconception about Linux mostly spread by software companies like MS that have alot to lose from it. Linux is all over the place. It powers more than 80% of the worlds super computers all the way down to the LCD TV on your wall. The majority of servers on the internet are Linux based. The wireless router you use at your home is often Linux based. Amazon runs entirely on Linux servers and so do Google, Ebay/Paypal and many other major tech/internet companies. IBM is deep in Linux as well. IBM is also way bigger and older than MS and has the patents to shut down anybody they want....but they don't and actually snag up patents to keep others from doing it.

You see software patents make little to no sense. Because rather than patenting a process or an actual implementation you are patenting an idea. Software code is protected by copyright so you cannot just take the actual code someone has written without their permission and just use it. The actual written code is the real work. But to demonstrate what it means to patent an idea....this website your on right now infringes on multiple patents. For instance I believe it is Microsoft that holds the patent on being able to hit "tab" and move to the next field or button on a webpage. Any website that can do this owes royalties to MS (or whoever it was that owns that patent). So even if you wrote some amazing code that did it 10 times better you couldn't do anything with it because it infringes on the idea of tabbing. As you can see if you let this type of stuff run wild nobody would be able to do anything. Microsoft found themselves the victim of this mess a few months ago with some little group that basically dayum near patented the use of XML period. Imagine is someone had patented the use of binary. We may very well not have computers now.

Patents in the software world have become synonymous with nuclear weapons. All the big players could shut each other down completely. Thats why like I said you'll notice MS trying to keep Linux in check by going after mid-sized companies in order to scare the little ones and not telling anyone exactly what patents are in question. The big boys can fire back. Both MS and Apple need to keep Android in check because it will run away with the market easily. But I think they are getting to close to a major player in Google and risk starting the patent nuclear war. There are alot of companies that have it in their best interest to protect Linux and to keep MS and Apple from having monopolies on markets.

Heres an article from when alot of this started.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Linux-and-Open-Source/Author-of-Linux-Patent-Study-Says-Ballmer-Got-It-Wrong/

In a nutshell if Linux infringes on some MS patents then those MS patents probably infringe on some Unix patents. Who knows...that might be why MS ran to Novell first with their deal since Novell owns some of the Unix patents. Novell thought they were gonna become THE Linux vendor because they could distribute it with Microsofts blessing. As we can see nobody gave a rats arse and kept going with Red Hat.

Thanks for the knowledge I did not know that. I might have to learn Linux. I thought it was a passing fad. I am an Accountant in Grants. Everywhere I’ve worked I am able to out tech everybody around me. Especially, the people who are use to doing thing one way and don’t want to change. I come out on top every time. It seems learning Linux might help me keep that edge. From the information you just gave me it is the future.

 

[AAMU_TOP_DOG]

Thanks for the knowledge I did not know that. I might have to learn Linux. I thought it was a passing fad. I am an Accountant in Grants. Everywhere I’ve worked I am able to out tech everybody around me. Especially, the people who are use to doing thing one way and don’t want to change. I come out on top every time. It seems learning Linux might help me keep that edge. From the information you just gave me it is the future.

I am a Unix/Linux Systems Admin and I am telling you that Linux is here to stay. Most major corporations are moving in that direction and before someone says that I don't know what I am talking about and starts talking about desktop computes and etc. I am not talking about desktop computers, laptops, netbooks, etc, but the web servers, application servers and other servers that the corporations depend on to run the company are either Unix or Linux based and many companies are migrating from Unix to Linux. IBM, HP and other hardware companies are now making servers specifically configured for the Linux operating system. Also, you can easily load Linux on a laptop and it will run much better than Windows and you don't have to worry about viruses. I know because I have Linux running on my corporate laptop.