Microsoft Charging Royalties For Linux

andydread writes "It seems Microsoft's campaign to scare manufacturers away from open source and Linux in particular is proceeding at full force. The latest news is from Digitimes out of Taiwan. Apparently Microsoft is threatening Acer and Asustek with having to pay Microsoft a license fee for the privilege of deploying Linux on their devices. This time, it's in the form of Android and Chorme OS. So basically, this campaign is spreading to PC vendors now. What are the implications of this? Does this mean that if I build PCs with Linux (Ubuntu/ChromeOS/Fedora) and sell them I am at risk of getting sued by Microsoft? "

Comments

Re:whole story is moronic

[Simon80]

BS it didn't happen. They're already doing it to HTC, they have a history of doing it in the past (see TomTom, Amazon, etc.), and they even have a list of shakedowns published, if a citation is needed. Sure, not all of those are proper shakedowns, but most of them are.

Re:Nicely twisted summary

[jedidiah]

> Looking up the details, the patents are for "synchronizing email, calendars and
> contacts, scheduling meetings, and notifying applications of changes in signal
> strength and battery power". Last I checked, none of those are included in the
> Linux kernel - they are part of the Android middleware/OS, and/or apps the
> vendors added.

That sounds a lot like fetchmail or leafnode or mysql/sqlite.

> This is about Taiwanese companies trying to make cheap phones by avoiding
> the patent license fees everyone else has already agreed are valid.

This is about one kid on the playground deciding they should not be bullied.

This is just simple stuff that's been done on other platforms forever. As mobile
devices become more capable and more transparent and more is done in the
"cloud", these things will begin to look less and less distinct and look more and
more like their PC counterparts.