Microsoft Invests $300 Million In Nook e-Readers

First time accepted submitter NGTechnoRobot writes "In a turn for the books the BBC reports that Microsoft has invested $300 million in Barnes and Noble's Nook e-reader. The new Nook reader will integrate with Microsoft's yet-to-be-released Windows 8 operating system. From the article: 'The deal could make Barnes and Noble's Nook e-book reader available to millions of new customers, integrating it with the Microsoft's new Windows 8 operating system. The as-yet unnamed new company will be 82.4% owned by Barnes and Noble, with Microsoft getting a 17.6% stake.' Guess the lawsuit's over, folks."

Comments

Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[simsd]

Microsoft's strategy has always been thinking long term. Even the first Xbox - that first caused large loss - showed this, as they are now the market leader. This same goes for Bing, Nokia, Facebook, their mobile offerings and everything else they produce.

As for Nook e-reader and Android, I can't be but impressive how cleverly Microsoft has played it all. Essentially they have left all the development costs, problems etc. to Google, while themselves making already over 1 billion dollars a year from Android device sales, and with this recent Nook e-reader investment, they will have a large share in a company that produces one of the most popular Android tablet devices.

Microsoft also starts to control mobile market. They have their own OS, Windows Phone 7, that Nokia - the largest phone manufacturer on planet - will be exclusively using in their smart phones. On top of that Nokia will use Android on their lower end phones, which from Microsoft also collects a large share from.

Microsoft also owns large share of the most popular social network on the planet, Facebook. The one that Google is desperately trying to win (and miserably failing) with their own Google+ service. And the second largest cloud provider after Amazon is Microsoft's Azure, which is used by Apple.

I have to admit, Microsoft and Ballmer have been very clever. Very, very clever.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[leoplan2]

You lost me at "On top of that Nokia will use Android on their lower end phones", you liar

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

The thing is, I don't want my e-reader to "integrate" with my PC. (I'm in the Kindle lock-in camp rather than the Nook lock-in camp, but that's not the point.) I want the device to be able to function completely independently. If I ever need to plug it into my computer at all, I consider that a usability failure. I feel the same way about my smartphone.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

Calm down, dude, calm down. It's just another generic post-as-soon-as-the-article-comes-up, high-ID Microsoft shill. You've got to expect that sort of thing.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

Very true - I was about to ask "Steve is that you???" but your post and the post you replied to, beat me to the punch.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

Shilltastic! A longish post submitted the same minute as the original article isn't at all suspicious.

Same goes for Bing, you say? Isn't that the same business they tried to sell to Facebook, but they didn't want it?

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[SJHillman]

I agree - it's been one of my big complaints about iProducts. My Android phone updates over the air, as does my Nook Color. If I plug them into a PC then I get an added bonus (easy file transfer mostly) but I could use either one heavily for years without ever needing to plug it into a PC and not really miss out on anything.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[znrt]

Microsoft's strategy has always been thinking long term. Even the first Xbox - that first caused large loss - showed this, as they are now the market leader. This same goes for Bing, Nokia, Facebook, their mobile offerings and everything else they produce.

microsoft strategy has never had anything to do with long term vision. that's why EVERY ms product line apart from 2 (win "os", and xbox live) has miserably failed to date.

300 million bucks for a shitty reader on a shitty platform ... this makes zuckerberg's 1b buy of instagram look sound. good luck. and of course, welcome to the bubble.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

Samsung is now the largest mobile manufacture, not Nokia.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Richard_at_work]

iPhones and iPads as of iOS5.x now update over the air, without any PC or Mac interaction required (they can even activate OTA these days as well).

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[simsd]

You lost me at "On top of that Nokia will use Android on their lower end phones", you liar

It is based on Linux, anyway - https://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/10/01/172205/nokia-preps-linux-os-for-low-end-smartphones

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

Errr... unless you are lazily lumping everything that isn't Xbox into 'win "os"':

- Internet Explorer could hardly be called a miserable failure (it was a cross-platform product until Apple no longer needed it). It may not be good, but it did not fail
- Outlook is a failed product?
- Office generally, a failed product?
- Sharepoint, a failed product?

For those of us who are older:

- MS-DOS was a failed product?
- Microsoft BASIC?
- Visual BASIC?
- Word (before office)?
- Visual C, Visual C++?

Don't talk nonsense.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[ysth]

Nice to know we're important enough to get our very own paid MS hacks ready to pounce on this story.

You left off the part where they've bought their way out of a lawsuit that may have taken out their backroom-bullying Android licensing business (not to mention the DoJ investigation B&N was pushing for).

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[simsd]

that's why EVERY ms product line apart from 2 (win "os", and xbox live) has miserably failed to date.

Yes, because MS Office, Visual Studio, games like Flight Simulator, Halo, Age of Empires etc are miserable failures. And that's just off the top of my head. Hell, even Microsoft's mouses and keyboards have always been held to high standard.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[simsd]

(not to mention the DoJ investigation B&N was pushing for).

Aren't you being a little naive not to think about the possibility that this was only done by B&N to push a better offer from Microsoft?

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

What you describe as "very clever" I would call "making up for incompetence and low quality products by throwing massive amounts of money at products until they stick".

In the case of Bing and Windows Phone it seems they'll have to continue to by "very clever" and keep pumping money into them. It's just lucky they have a couple of monopolies to fund their cleverness.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[timeOday]

Even if Microsoft offerings simply match Apple, they will be doing everybody a huge favor by deflating Apple's profit margins. It amazes me how Apple's own customers cheer on their huge profits, seemingly oblivious to the fact it's coming from their own pockets. I have nothing against paying a premium if it's worth it to you and the best deal currently available, but getting the same or similar for less money in the future is what I call progress.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[the_B0fh]

But what does blathering on about nothing gains the shill?

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

MS bought Halo, they didn't create it. It was going to be an Apple game originally.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[poetmatt]

I'd be happy to have the e-reader integrate with my PC if 1 specific thing happened:

the DRM was gone. At which point the e-reader functions the way we want and expect it to, aka the way the device is capable, not the way the device is limited to. That way I can back up books, copy purchased books to other devices, etc.

Is it that hard for people and companies such as Microsoft to figure this out in 2012?

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[the_B0fh]

You do realize Halo was originally a Macintosh exclusive game until Microsoft waved bundles of money under Bungie's owners right?

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[the_B0fh]

Depending on what you mean by fail. By the way, since you are older, you do realize IE was *BOUGHT*, and so was a bunch of others right? And sharepoint is a fucking piece of shit. Office was and still is a bloated piece of crap.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Richard_at_work]

getting the same or similar for less money in the future is what I call progress.

The problem is, "same or similar" is *very* subjective in these sort of contexts.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Galestar]

You lost me when you complimented Bing.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

We're also smart enough to invest in apple so we get some of that money back.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[RabidReindeer]

Few things (short of a corporate change of personality) would drive me back into the arms of Amazon after what they've done in recent years, but a Windows-based Nook would be one of them. Bad enough that they've sucked all the fun out by making the Nooks root-resistant.

Then again, just because Microsoft invested in the Nook doesn't actually mean that they have immediate plans for a switchover. If what I hear is correct, they're making more money off Android-based phones than Windows phones these days.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[cpu6502]

To date Microsoft has only been successful because it rode on the coat-tails of the already very successful International Business Machines and their PC platform. Everything you listed was because IBM was the "safe choice" for managers. Away from the PC world Microsoft has experienced few successes. (In fact I can't think of any.)

If it had been Atari-DOS that was sold to IBM in 1981, then we'd be talking about the Atari monopoly and Atari Explorer instead of the MS monopoly or IE. In this alternate reality Microsoft would be no bigger or important than any other programming corporation. (They might even have failed and disappeared.)

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes and Apple bought the core of OSX, PA Semi to do chip design, and and uncountable score of other companies for most of their succesful products, including the basis of the iPod.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

But it will be great! It could synchronize with Zune, just like WinPhone 7!
You were going to have Zune running anyway, so it's no big deal, right?

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

Did you stroke your neckbeard when you wrote that retarded post?

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

But what does blathering on about nothing gains the shill?

Okay, for this explanation, first assume that Slashdot matters as much as it did ten years ago. I know, I know, that sounds like I'm horribly behind the times, but this IS Microsoft we're talking about, so it makes sense. The "horribly behind the times" part, that is.

Now, past that, assume that it's not just geeks and nerds that read this, it's also businessmen and managers and other "important decision makers". Yes, yes, again, same necessary sub-assumptions as before.

Then, remember that Slashdot's commenting mechanism is based on the first post appearing on top. And, most importantly, remember the key advertising term: "Above the fold". That is, the presumption by advertisers (generally with merit) that things higher up on a page or otherwise in a more prominent position will be remembered better, even subconsciously, by the readers. Plus, lump into that the presumption (again, generally with merit) that the first opinion people read shapes their initial feelings about a given subject.

See where I'm going with this? That's why we have the first post wankers, except that they're there more for the recognition than any marketing purposes. It's up to you to decide which is more damaging to sane conversation and discourse.

So, take all that and wrap it up in a bundle of generic marketing-speak. Put that Microsoft(r) name in their heads! Talk it up, too! And get it out NOW! Before the consumer blob has any chance to read anything else! And stay on point, damnit! Don't ever let the competition get recognized in your rant, unless it's in a bad light (re: the requisite dig at Google)! Slashdot gets traffic, so enough of that has to be made of high-paid executives and managers for Fortune 500 companies that we can convince them to use Microsoft(r) Windows(tm) brand operating system(tm) food product(tm), right? That logic worked back in the early 90s before the internet came out and Microsoft could buy advertising in any non-Apple-specific publication, it'll DAMN well work now, too!

So, that's it. Unravel the logic from the point of view of a company that can't mentally get out of the 90s, the last time they were unequivocally "winning". Or who willingly ignored the internet as a passing fad. Or whose primary high-paying customers are high-paid businesspeople. Then it'll all make sense. Well, it'll make sense why they think paying their shills to do this will mean profits later.

In fact, the more I think about how blatantly backwards and behind all of this is, the more I have this faint feeling in the back of my head that maybe these shills are actually an altogether-too-clever mockery of Microsoft that happens to fall on the wrong side of Poe's Law...

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

The jump is reasoning is that Apple customers by and large don't feel ripped off by Apple.

When you have a device that you bought at a price you consider fair, that you use every day, and have nothing bad to say about you don't get pissed off that the company that sold it to you is making loads of money.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[ysth]

Perhaps you didn't read the vitriol in some of B&N's reports.

They made it very clear that they viewed Microsoft's approach as nothing more or less than brigandry.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[gnasher719]

I agree - it's been one of my big complaints about iProducts. My Android phone updates over the air, as does my Nook Color. If I plug them into a PC then I get an added bonus (easy file transfer mostly) but I could use either one heavily for years without ever needing to plug it into a PC and not really miss out on anything.

I'd miss out on my books being backed up and readable on my Mac, which is exactly what happens with eBooks bought on my iPad, either from Apple or from other sources as long as it is standard EPUB format.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[couchslug]

Embrace and extend...

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[future assassin]

You forgot to mention the MS predatory business tactics. MS is to the rest of the world like all of the other tables are to the iPod (I'm an Apple hater). Seems to me all they do is sit there wait for the next big thing and try to copy it, 99% of the time it fails so then they go in a invest into said company/business as they can't compete.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[suprcvic]

So choose not to use that feature. Based on the lack of info in the article, there's nothing to say that you'll *have* to integrate with the PC.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Grayhand]

I'm not seeing the "Clever" you keep repeating. They've been so clever that Apple blasted past them and left the company in the dust due in large part to a lack of innovation at Microsoft. The Zune was a miserable failure and very late to the game. Nook isn't the top eBook reader Kindle is especially with the Fire selling strong in the low side of the reader market. Nook's future is uncertain because it's still heavily tied to B&N and their future is seriously in doubt. To me it sounds like an other Microsoft, late to the game with a product that may not be able to compete. They weren't playing it safe they sat on their hands until it got obvious eBook readers were going to be huge so they didn't have time to develop a product so they bought into the Nook since it was the only one they could buy a stake in. I'm missing the "Clever" in all this?

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

Similarly, when a person has a device that they bought at a price they consider expensive, they tend to post-facto justify the purchase, and not say anything bad about it.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[cpu6502]

>>>Even the first Xbox - that first caused large loss - showed this, as they are now the market leader.

Since when is 2nd place == leader?

>>>Microsoft also starts to control mobile market

Since when is a distant 2nd place == control? I feel like your post was written by MS marketing.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[jd2112]

Sharepoint is enormously successful and even as a free product generates huge amounts of money for Microsoft by requiring Windows Server and SQL Server licenses to run on, but more importantly it's a huge tarpit that locks you into Windows, SQL Server, Office, and Exchange upgrade treadmill forever.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[theheadlessrabbit]

You lost me at "On top of that Nokia will use Android on their lower end phones"

What about the part where he says Nokia is the largest phone manufacturer? Wasn't there just an article posted less than a week ago about Samsung taking the top spot from Nokia?

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

Aren't you being a little naive not to think about the possibility that this was only done by B&N to push a better offer from Microsoft?

ooohhhh, shill me baby, shill me harder, keep going, don't stop

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe they weren't market failures, but some of these are most definitely technical/engineering failures.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[tlhIngan]

The thing is, I don't want my e-reader to "integrate" with my PC. (I'm in the Kindle lock-in camp rather than the Nook lock-in camp, but that's not the point.) I want the device to be able to function completely independently. If I ever need to plug it into my computer at all, I consider that a usability failure. I feel the same way about my smartphone.

I disagree for one reason - BACKUPS.

Right now, it's easy to backup an iOS device - ignoring iCloud, you plug your iDevice into your Mac/Windows PC and iTunes backs it up. It copies over apps you may have bought (thus ensuring that even if Apple removes them or they otherwise disappear, you always can reinstall - viz. that tricorder app).

Sure my contacts and such can be synced, but it's as good a backup as say, RAID is. One false flip of the finger and boom, that contact can disappear and be promptly synced everywhere. (Alas, with everything going cloud and sync, this will destroy backups as well).

Of course, you could argue about backing up to a local SD card or other storage media, but then you lose the device, you lose the backup (oops).

It's also one of my biggest frustrations with Android - until recently there wasn't a really good way to do it without rooting (ICS has a special "adb backup" and "adb restore" hidden option). I want to wipe one of my Androids and the thought of having to back it up makes me pause (Google's restore leaves something to be desired, especially w.r.t. free apps).

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Jumperalex]

I agree on the lack of need for PC integration, but lets not paint Kindle lock-in and Nook lock-in in the same light. At least with the Nook you are able to buy an ebook from any ePub retailer. There are many besides B&N. With Kindle you have no such luxuary.

We'll ignore the need to plug into your PC to get non-B&N ePub ebooks ... the point is you CAN do it and it is fairly easy really and is only a failure of B&N at least wanting to make it one small bit easier to buy from them than their competitors. The fact that plugging your Kindle into your PC gets you nothing, is the failure!!!

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[awshidahak]

I'd be happy to have the e-reader integrate with my PC if 1 specific thing happened:

the DRM was gone.

It may be slightly harder to find one without DRM, but I've got a pretty good solution that's working out for me. Get a B&N Nook and install CM7 on it (not the simplest process in the world, but it's not too hard with a good tutorial. Then, install FBReader on it (available from Google Play Store, or F-Droid) and get your drm-free books.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[SJHillman]

I'd consider backups to be one of those extra features... and even then, most platforms offer some sort of over-the-air backup app. B&N stores all books purchased through them on their servers and any epub books you sideload can be backed up with any backup app.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[0123456]

I agree on the lack of need for PC integration, but lets not paint Kindle lock-in and Nook lock-in in the same light. At least with the Nook you are able to buy an ebook from any ePub retailer. There are many besides B&N. With Kindle you have no such luxuary.

Why do people keep repeating this? With a Kindle you can buy an e-book from any mobi retailer, and you can convert any epub that doesn't use DRM... but you generally don't have to since almost all ebooks are available direct from Amazon whereas only a fraction are available from B&N.

The only thing tying anyone to a Kindle is publisher-installed DRM on the e-book files that prevents them from moving books to their Kindle from other retailers or from their Kindle to a different e-reader.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

I wish Sharepoint was a failed product. Now rather than using a real wiki, we're forced to use Sharepoint wiki.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

Better yet, get some python cabbage love, and you can decrypt most DRM'ed books for reading with about any reader such as FBread and Aldiko. So far, I have been too lazy to learn enough python to convert the scripts to run on Linux rather than Windows, so I alternately boot to my Win partition once in awhile to download and decrypt my recent ebooks (mostly B&N) so I can read them from the Linux partition and copy them to a flash card I can put in my Sony Reader or Androids (for FBreader instead of starting up the monster Nook app).

No, I do not "pirate" them out to the 'Net - I just want them available on any of my own gear (and not "recallable" by the seller as happened with Amazon and "1984" as I recall - been leery of that "backdoor" ever since).

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[thebrieze]

He did?

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[bbbaldie]

Ballmer....clever

Buwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!!!!!

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes and Apple bought the core of OSX, PA Semi to do chip design, and and uncountable score of other companies for most of their succesful products, including the basis of the iPod.

Exactly, not that there is anything wrong with it, but it is beyond funny when Apple fans criticise Microsoft for buying companies. Apple have bought the basis for almost all of their current products; OSX, iTunes, chips for iTunes/iPad, Siri.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[scot4875]

This shilling would be *much* more effective if you guys weren't so damn obvious about it. I mean come on, this isn't fooling anybody -- you get called out on it immediately and get stuck in -1 hell where most people won't even see your posts. If you're going to try to build a sockpuppet army, at least try a *little* subtlety.

--Jeremy

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anne Thwacks]

Since when is 2nd place == leader?

You need more Kool-Ade

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

No! Everything Apple produces was invented out of whole cloth. To find inspiration, they just had a fanboi jerk off Steve Jobs (there were always plenty of volunteers) and examine the pattern made by the semen on their faces. His Holy Ejaculate contained within it the exact specifications for every iDevice we have today.

What they'll have to resort to now that Jobs is gone is beyond anyone's guess, though.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Erbo]

You can do CM9 as well now. I've done both CM7 and CM9 installs, and done them to MicroSD memory cards, so that I can just reboot without the card in the slot to run the "stock" Nook distribution again at any time.

CM9 feels a bit sluggish on the Nook Color, but it's usable.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[RazorSharp]

I always assumed that they don't pay shills. There probably isn't a need. Every company has those true believers who won't tolerate anything but the greatest praise about the business. I always just assumed that lots of Microsoft employes, being geeks and all, read /. and post comments defending their employer. Some may look at it as what's good for Microsoft is good for them, some may truly subscribe to the corporate vision (someone has to).

They have so many employees, many of whom are programmers, that I could see them writing a shill script before actually paying a person to do it. But they probably don't even do that. It's probably just some vice-president of marketing dicking off and trolling /.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd miss out on my books being backed up and readable on my Mac

So plug the nook into your Mac, and copy the books over. Download the Nook app for Mac and read the books.

The only difference is that with a Nook, the above is optional.

And you could wipe your Nook, login again, and re-download all your books, with no computer in sight. That seems like a win to me, or to put it another way, I don't like the idea that the iProducts require you to plug them in to iTunes.

BTW the Nook uses ePub as well.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

It amazes me how Apple's own customers cheer on their huge profits, seemingly oblivious to the fact it's coming from their own pockets

You're doing it wrong. I've made enough on AAPL to buy a whole goddamn Apple store. How's that been working out for the MSFT stockholders, anyway?

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

A friend was also happy he didn't have to connect his Android to anything over the last few months. He then became unhappy when the device died with all his information on it and the "backup" Android was advertising was nowhere to be found.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

(it [Internet Explorer] was a cross-platform product until Apple no longer needed it)

You have cause and effect reversed. Safari was not released until there had been no updates to IE on Mac for several years.

My university was wondering what to do to replace the buggy and non-compliant IE on Mac since it was clear that Microsoft was not going to release new features for it and was not fixing long known bugs. It was only political/bureaucratic inertia that kept the university from switching away from MS IE before Safari came out.

Some have speculated that Apple created Safari to fill the gaping hole that was being left by Microsoft.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[rtfa-troll]

But what does blathering on about nothing gains the shill?

Typically two things; 1) we discuss something irrelevant but which forwards the shills interests 2) we don't discuss the main thing. The main thing is:

Microsoft sued Barnes and Noble about patents; The lawsuit ended up being settled by Microsoft paying out 300Million cash!!!

This has the same stucture as the Apple monopoly payout which allowed Apple to survive it's down years. Take away from this:

• If sued by Microsoft, fight to the death; there are some skeletons somewhere they will pay anything to hide
• Samsung and HTC management should be fired for failing to fight
• Microsoft has no patents worthy of mention; the worst that can happen if they sue is that you become rich beyond your wildest dreams

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Unequivocal]

I'm not make an arguement about DRM inherently at the moment, but I use the B&N NookBook products. I can read the books any of a number devices. I read on a PC, my Transformer tablet, my B&N e-ink reader and on my Android phone (I'm certain it works on a mac and iphone/pad as well). So while the format is not open (aka w/out DRM) they definitely give you the ability to read the book on a variety of h/w platforms.

You can also side-load books into a device and I believe that works for DRM content so long as you have the inherent DRM access rights associated with that content. So I can copy my DRM'ed epubs right off my e-reader and back them up. Then I can copy then back later and they will work with my account still.

Granted when B&N goes out of business, etc, there may be some problems (not sure how their DRM is operated and whether it needs to check-in with a home base periodically to keep my DRM books open). I've had my device disconnected from the internet for a month with no problems but who knows.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Grishnakh]

MS has employees whose official title is "Technical Evangelist". I've never heard any other companies having employees like this. Obviously, the title is a euphamism for "shill". These are people who are actually paid to spend their work days going to internet forums and posting pro-MS BS.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[the_B0fh]

Like I said - depending on what you mean by fail. It's like one of the UNIX guys who took MCSE exams way back when. He went in and took it cold (no prep, no study, nothing). For every question, he asked himself, which answer would make Microsoft the most money, and chose that.

He passed his exam.

Would you say Windows NT 4.0 was successful? Certainly, in terms of sales, it was. In terms of security and availability? Pure fucking piece of shit.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Unequivocal]

That's pretty silly. It's true that MS locked in a juicy piece of revenue when it retained ownership of IBM's OS for the original PC. But I don't think a serious argument can be made that all the subsequent successes stem from that one line of revenue or IP. The transition to Windows was based on the Mac's success not the IBM PC. The work with IBM on OS/2 and converted to Win NT was not premised on that DOS license. Office, MS SQL and just keep counting their market successes from there.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[ne0n]

Not sure what all this has to do with M$ investing in Android tablets but a good Apple-bashing is fine by me. Speaking of Apple, I wonder what they'll think of next - drop-down notifications, multitasking, and even widgets? One can only imagine what other Gingerbread-era features will finally be included in iOS6.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[ChunderDownunder]

"Evangelist" has been around at least since the Mac.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Grishnakh]

I think it's blatantly obvious that that post was written by MS marketing.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[timeOday]

I've made enough on AAPL to buy a whole goddamn Apple store.

You might be way ahead of me here, but remember "buy low" doesn't help you until you "sell high."

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

Indeed; I am actually old enough to remember that MS-DOS was *bought* too. It doesn't invalidate my argument. Suggesting that it matters if the quality is poor doesn't help make znrt's argument work; after all, isn't the PSU of the Xbox a pile of shit?

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

Not so at all. It looks like this in retrospect, but Microsoft didn't abandon IE on the Mac as a supported product until Safari existed as a 1.0 release. The final release of IE was in June 2003, which was also the date of the 1.0 version of Safari (six months after the first fairly impressive betas).

Microsoft confirmed at _that_ point that there would be no further versions of Safari apart from security fixes; Panther shipped in October 2003 with Safari as the default browser.

When Microsoft invested in that non-voting Apple stock (does anyone know just how well they made out when they sold it?), they also promised to produce key applications for OS X (Office, IE, outlook express) for five years, and they did so.

The fork of KHTML was surely under way a lot earlier than the release of the Safari beta, and presumably started at the very latest in early 2002, round about the time Microsoft released IE 5.1 with a new rendering engine, which wasn't actually complete until 5.1.4 in April 2002. Microsoft was still an Apple shareholder _long_ after this, too.

The transition to Safari was not done to spite Microsoft or to make up for a hole; it was planned, based around the five year deal, and done for the same reasons Apple ultimately stopped shipping Flash, and took their build of Java in-house: to make OS X independent of third-party code.

Microsoft decided to continue producing Office.

So 'some' may have 'speculated', but that's all it is.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

Indeed, the Wikipedia page for webkit suggests that the Webkit fork began much earlier, in June 2001. I recall it being said that they had also looked at Gecko, and presumably the search for a rendering engine was subsequent to the decision that they needed a browser.

Let's say for argument's sake that decision was made in May 2001, just a month earlier.

That is just two months after OS X 10.0 shipped, and seven months _before_ IE 5.1 shipped.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

Really? Are you another one of those "MS never did anything right and competition and anti-trust and and and" ramblers? Really?

How about you grow up and recognize that MS put out some pretty good software. And they were pretty good businesspeople too?

If I listened to this line of nonsense, I'd believe that falling down was the prerequisite to commercial success. Also, that hats make good footwear, food is optional, and roads were a gift from the K'zin.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Bungie]

By the way, since you are older, you do realize IE was *BOUGHT**

Spyglass Mosiac was not a great browser and anything Microsoft used from it was probably eliminated completely from IE by version 3.0. FYI that is the first version that was actually useful and performed well enough to start eroding Netscape's market domination.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

You haven't dealt with many tech companies, then.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

I've noticed that kind of thing all over slashdot in the last few years, where the pro Microsoft bullshit posts weren't downmodded and now have spread everywhere. It wasn't nearly that way before, slashdot used to have a natural bias towards open source, freedom and technology everywhere. Now there is much more pro Microsoft bullshit in +5 rated comments all over the place.

There have been several large tech sites doomed by similar symptoms, Digg, and Reddit (up until very recently but it is still weak now) a number of years ago when the suspicious Microsoft shill to normal ratio went way higher a few months before any new Windows release was due. Maybe a lot of money is on the line and making it look like nerds support Microsoft leads to more businesses doing so. I don't know.

Whatever it is, what a waste. Sorry to see slashdot taking it so hard, hopefully it can correct itself.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Grishnakh]

Maybe they're not as obvious, or maybe the marketing practices of other tech companies just aren't discussed on Slashdot very much (with Apple being the obvious exception, but they don't need "technical evangelists" /shills to post BS all over internet forums to sell their stuff; they can just build fancy mall stores and populate them with condescending employees and people will flock to buy their stuff at a huge mark-up).

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[KitFox]

Embrace and extend...

Far too appropriate if you throw this into the wrong (or right?) Text to Speech engine, at which point Microsoft seems to be targeting the Harlequin Publishing market as they invest in "nookie readers" (Thank you computer voices).

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Bungie]

Windows NT was a design that was almost entirely Microsoft's. Yes IBM was involved in the initial project (when it was an upgrade for OS2), but they mostly fucked things up. The versions of OS2 that were released when they separated from Microsoft proves their poor design capabilities, and it would take them years before they would have something decent. Windows NT is still being used today and has evolved to support the most modern of OS features. David Cutler was a genius and the NT team really deserves full credit for their excellent work. Microsoft deserves credit for seeing the project for what it was and getting the hell away from IBM.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

Their cleverness will become apparent with the first model of the Nook that they have a hand in. It will be brown, and you will be able to squirt with it.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[PCM2]

but you generally don't have to since almost all ebooks are available direct from Amazon whereas only a fraction are available from B&N.

What are you basing this on? I've never found an e-book on Amazon that I couldn't buy through B&N, and in fact I've found the opposite situation.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[PCM2]

Nook's future is uncertain because it's still heavily tied to B&N

No it isn't. Seriously. When you have a Nook, for various reasons it's advantageous to do business with B&N, but "heavily tied"? No. Not like the Kindle is heavily tied to Amazon.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[the_B0fh]

The only reason it started "eroding" Netscape's market share is because it was bundled. And the only reason for bundling at that time was to kill off Netscape. Did you miss the Microsoft Monopoly trial?

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[tehcyder]

Yes, but the first post has been modded as a -1 troll, so a lot of people won't even see it.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[tehcyder]

But what does blathering on about nothing gains the shill?

Typically two things; 1) we discuss something irrelevant but which forwards the shills interests 2) we don't discuss the main thing.

So 1) don't feed the trolls and 2) just post sensible comments. What's the big deal?

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[tehcyder]

I've made enough on AAPL to buy a whole goddamn Apple store.

Yeah, and I bet you've got a cock like a fucking rolling pin too.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, but the first post has been modded as a -1 troll, so a lot of people won't even see it.

It's the same theory behind email spamming: Most people won't see it due to spam filters getting better and better, but due to spamming being so incredibly cheap, enough people will. And really, all it takes is just one or two people dumb enough to fall for email spam to make a profit.

Likewise, all it takes is one person finding the article and being influenced by it before it gets modded down to oblivion (or one person browsing at -1, or a couple extra shills modding it up to stave off the downmods) to make it profitable to the shills.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[datavirtue]

Reminds me of the mosquito-deleto that your buddy evangelizes when you come over for a barbecue--while getting eaten by mosquitos. You just want to say, dude! take that back, now!

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

These are people who are actually paid to spend their work days going to internet forums and posting pro-MS BS.

Oh man i can't believe there are retards who actually still believe this.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

By the way, since you are older, you do realize IE was *BOUGHT*, and so was a bunch of others right?

Yes like almost every single technology that Apple has, they took open source projects or bought other companies and used those.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[metaforest]

Apple had "evangelist" as a job title at least as early as 1984. I was there, and wondering WTF they did for a living other than spew marketing slang.

In 93 to 96 I worked for M$ and found the role was well established their as well, usually as an organ sewn to a Product Manager... like a colostomy bag. Or like Siamese twins... one starts a sentence and the other finishes it.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Jumperalex]

Right, but until DRM is gone (I agree it is the larger problem) if you buy a kindle you can then only buy DRM books from Amazon and like it or not, many of the authors i want to read are published by DRM publishers. But with my Nook I can buy a DRM book from any ePub retailer and put it on my Nook without converting or stripping.

Of course until the DOJ court cases there wasn't much competition in pricing regardless, but we are at least just starting to see some movement.

Re:Very Clever Long-Term Business Planning

[Anonymous Coward]

TAC (the TYPE APPROVAL CODE) face the same market should be the same product for the same model phone, FAC (FINAL ASSEMBLY CODE), we generally will be final assembly as a mobile phone origin, therefore, [url=http://www.9freerun2012.com/nike-free-run-c-40.html]nike free run[/url]the FAC code also can be consideredphone origin of the code, the number of SEN (SERIAL nUMBER) as the internal management of the mobile phone manufacturers, the same model will not have the same SPN (SPARE nUMBER) is not just a brand.

Error in the Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

Now even the summary doesn't RTFA. It's $300 = £185m, not $300 = £300.

Re:Error in the Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

LOL sampzenpus, not only is your information completely wrong, but you couldn't even get your title to match your summary.

Typical of slashdot these days. I'm outta here, if I want this level of "news" I can watch Fox or browse the Chan forums.

Re:Error in the Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

All of those amounts were supposed to have "m" after them. Oh well.

Re:Error in the Summary

[gstrickler]

...reports that Microsoft's have invested...

Can we please have some editing before posting articles?

Re:Error in the Summary

[Relayman]

No, we're geeks. And bad English is part of our DNA.

Re:Error in the Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

It's $300 = £185m

I didn't know that the UK had a massive inflation. ;-)

AC Did It All For The Nook-e

[Anonymous Coward]

I won't lie, that I can't deny

I did it all for the nook-e

Makes sense

[Anonymous Coward]

Amazon has Kindle on Kindles and everything else, Apple has iBooks on Apple devices (did they release an OSX version yet), and now B&N/MS will have Nook on Microsoft devices and other platforms.

Re:Makes sense

[SJHillman]

Except you can already get Nook for PC/Android/etc. The only market they don't have an app/program for that I would like to see is Linux and web-based.

Re:Makes sense

[Anonymous Coward]

The difference is that this will come pre-installed, and potentially act as a gateway to ebooks. You or I may have a preference, but a lot of users will just be looking for how to get books.

DRM on Text Books?

[alexander_686]

The item that I find interesting, and we are not talking about, is that Microsoft is taking an ownership position in their college bookstore operations. Now, why is MSFT doing that? I mean, yes, selling overpriced sweatshirts to the student's parents is amazing profitable - but it's not exactly in MSFT core line.

Why do I think that MSFT is trying to sneak into the online book selling business via text books? And why am I thinking about more DRM / lock down on text books?

Re:DRM on Text Books?

[edremy]

The *really* interesting bit? The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is pouring money into Open Textbook projects.

This makes sense in my opinion- the total cost for writing a series of 100 and 200 level texts to cover pretty much the entire curriculum is peanuts for something the size of the Gates Foundation, but it could really have a massive impact on the costs of education- check out how much books are vs. tuition at many community colleges.

Re:DRM on Text Books?

[gfxguy]

The keyword I find interesting is "integrate," not "ownership." That MS once again wants to be an industry "leader" by buying (or buying into) an increasingly popular established technology that they ignored until it gained popularity isn't really surprising.

I'm wondering, exactly, what "integrate" means. They can tie IE so close to the OS that the OS requires it, and I can see how they can justify it (whether I agree with it or not). I don't see how they mean to make an e-reader an integral part of the OS.

And now the Nook will die

[rastoboy29]

Isn't it de rigeur that anything Microsoft invests in heavily, especially outside it's core competence, fails?

Re:And now the Nook will die

[Anonymous Coward]

Facebook?

Apple?

MSNBC?

Re:And now the Nook will die

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean like Apple?

Re:And now the Nook will die

[cpu6502]

Read my thoughts.
Amazon's Kindle uses linux. I'll stick with that. I just wish they'd use a faster processor than 500 megahertz, because web surfing is painfully slow (especially facebook).

Re:And now the Nook will die

[Anonymous Coward]

>> facebook

That's not a real book, you know?

Re:And now the Nook will die

[poetmatt]

embrace extend extinguish? Where are we at again? Oh yeah, Extend.

Maybe one day people will learn about history and stay the hell away from MS.

Re:And now the Nook will die

[the_B0fh]

No, it's anything that Microsoft forces that shitting marketing "we must make it all look and feel like windows" that causes it to fail.

Re:And now the Nook will die

[The Raven]

Microsoft computer peripherals is still active and strong after 20 years. So no.

Re:And now the Nook will die

[ISoldat53]

BN did the one thing that will make me buy an iPad.

Re:And now the Nook will die

[cpu6502]

No we're still at the embrace part.

Next Microsoft will release their own Nook-compatible with "extended" features which B&N nooks can't do, because the features will be patented.

Eventually people will buy MS because it can do text-to-speech and live facebook chat with integrated Interet Explorer/Bing (which B&N nooks can't do)..... and that will lead to B&N nooks being extinguished.

EEE.

Re:And now the Nook will die

[Lorien_the_first_one]

The road is littered with the carcasses of the former partners of Microsoft.

Re:And now the Nook will die

[Anonymous Coward]

Amazon's Kindle uses linux. I'll stick with that.

Stick with what, Linux? Or Amazon's Kindle? If the latter, well, I see your boycott of Amazon is doing well...

Re:And now the Nook will die

[ruiner13]

I dunno, Apple seems to be doing OK these days... Zing!

Re:And now the Nook will die

[gfxguy]

But Amazon e-readers run on nearly everything (except Nooks... and even that's possible if you're clever). I'll stick with that, and have my choice of e-readers.... and not be stuck with painfully slow 500Mhz processors.

Ok, I'm kidding to an extent because I actually inherited a original Nook for reading, not a "real" tablet, and it can't do anything else really. But I inherited it because my kids used them and I got them nicer tablets (Samsung Galaxy Tab 7+) and now they have Kindle software AND Nook software as well as many other things. If you want something that's actually useful as a tablet, don't get either the Fire or the new Nook... they're just not worth it for people who really want a tablet. As for me, I really just don't want a tablet (I don't fine them useful), but I realize others do - and those that do should just bite the bullet and get a "real" tablet.

Re:And now the Nook will die

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't it de rigeur that anything Microsoft invests in heavily, especially outside it's core competence, fails?

Ever hear of Apple?

Re:And now the Nook will die

[Anonymous Coward]

You, sir, are wrong.

Re:And now the Nook will die

[cpu6502]

I didn't buy the Kindle Tablet. No interest. I bought the normal Kindle with black-and-white screen for reading my magazine (the e-version is 67% cheaper) and some web surfing to places my work blocks, like gmail.

Re:And now the Nook will die

[Anonymous Coward]

But why did you buy it? What made you give up on your boycott of Amazon?

Re:And now the Nook will die

[Anonymous Coward]

Microsoft's new "strategic partnership" with Nokia is not its first. For a decade the software company has courted and consummated relationships with a variety of companies in mobile and telecom. Here are the ones I can remember:

LG. In February 2009 Microsoft Corp. signed a multiyear agreement for Windows Mobile to be included on devices from LG Electronics Inc. LG would use Windows Mobile as its "primary platform"for smartphones and produce about 50 models running the software.

What happened? LG made a few Windows Mobile devices but with WinMo uncompetitive, they abandoned the platform and moved to Android losing years of market presence and all their profits.

Motorola. In September 2003, Motorola and Microsoft announced an alliance. "Starting with the introduction of the new Motorola MPx200 mobile phone with Microsoft Windows Mobile software, the companies will collaborate on a series of Smartphone and Pocket PC wireless devices designed to create a virtual "remote control" for the Web-centric, work-centric, always-on-the-go mobile professional." In addition, the alliance includes cooperation on joint marketing and wireless developer programs.

What happened? Motorola launched a series of Windows Mobile phones culminating in the Motorola Q "Blackberry killer". As Motorola hit the rocks in profitability new management reached for the Android liferaft. The company now relies exclusively on the Droid franchise.

Palm. In September 2005 Palm and Microsoft announced a strategic alliance to "accelerate the Smartphone market segment with a new device for mobile professionals and businesses. Palm has licensed the Microsoft Windows Mobile operating system for an expanded line of Treo Smartphones, the first of which will be available on Verizon Wirelessâ(TM) national wireless broadband network."

What happened? Palm shipped a few Windows Mobile, famously dismissing Appleâ(TM)s potential entry as something "PC guys" could never achieve. A new CEO, a private placement and an acquisition later the company is a division of HP making its own operating system.

Nortel. When Steve Ballmer was famously laughing at the iPhone and saying that he likes the Windows Mobile strategy "a lot" he was sitting next to the then-CEO of Nortel (Mike Zafirovski formerly of Motorola) with whom the company had just closed a strategic deal. "an alliance between Microsoft and Nortel announced in July 2006 ⦠includes three new joint solutions to dramatically improve business communications by breaking down the barriers between voice, e-mail, instant messaging, multimedia conferencing and other forms of communication".

What happened? Nortel declared bankruptcy two years later.

Verizon. In January 2009 "Verizon Wireless has selected Microsoft Corp. to provide portal, local and Internet search as well as mobile advertising services to customers on its devices. The five-year agreement will go into effect in the first half of 2009 when Microsoft Live Search is targeted to be available on new Verizon Wireless feature phones and smartphones." The deal would ensure Bing distribution to all of Verizonâ(TM)s smartphone customers.

What happened? Bing did ship on some devices but in October 2009 Droid came to Verizon.

Ericsson. In September 2000, "Ericsson and Microsoft Corp. today launched Ericsson Microsoft Mobile Venture AB. This previously announced joint company will drive the mobile Internet by developing and marketing mobile e-mail solutions for operators. The first solutions are expected to be on the market by the end of the year. The company is part of a broader strategic alliance between Ericsson and Microsoft"

What happened? Ericsson divested itself of the mobile division forming a joint venture which would go on and make more strategic alliances with Microsoft over Windows Mobile culminating in a loss of profits and eventual flight to Android.

Sendo. In February 2001, Microsoft announced a partnership, in which Microsoft bought $12m of Sendo sh

Re:And now the Nook will die

[Bungie]

Now come on, most of the companies you have listed failed because they were struggling to compete with the new generation of multi-touch smartphones. When the iPhone became popular, every mobile phone manufacturer was left scrambling for a new operating system and product line that could provide competitive features. The writing was already on the wall for all of them.

Microsoft's only fault is their reluctance in admitting that Windows Mobile was at the end of it's useful life. Windows Mobile was around for a decade and was very successful for a time, but devices had changed considerably since it was first designed. Those companies should have noticed this, especially when HP, the most successful Windows Mobile device vendor, started backing away from the platform and looking for alternatives (they bought Palm in the end).

All that happened there is a bunch of companies were unprepared for the BlackBerry and iPhone and ended up running to Microsoft hoping they would save the day, and they turned out to have an even worse strategy for the mobile market.

Re:And now the Nook will die

[PCM2]

Amazon's Kindle uses linux. I'll stick with that.

Nook e-readers are Android, so they use Linux, too. I don't see anything in this announcement to suggest that's likely to change.

Re:And now the Nook will die

[metaforest]

Apple?

Oh come on... $150m was M$ picking up the tab on a friday night sports-bar binge. It had no impact on Apple, other than smoothing Steve's ruffled plumage after drunken scuffle Bill & Steve had in the parking lot when they went out for a smoke.

"Sorry about the misunderstanding bro'... I'll pick up the tab. We cool?"

Re:And now the Nook will die

[poetmatt]

The EEE approach doesn't require extending features within a product. You're looking into some specific product-focused version.

They're at extend with nokia, facebook and yahoo, and yahoo's heading towards "extinguish"

In related news

[Grayhand]

The company also announces their newest product the Chocolate Nook.

B&N Lawsuit

[c 0xFF]

Wait ... I thought Microsoft was suing B&N over the Nook Color.

Now, I realize that we're not talking about the Nook Color in this deal specifically, but this deal smells funny to me anyway.

Re:B&N Lawsuit

[ZombieBraintrust]

Yeah this is likely about settling the lawsuits. There is no money to be made suing B&N over patents. There is no money to be made suing Microsoft over anti-trust.

Re:B&N Lawsuit

[whoever57]

This deal is about preventing MS's patents being invalidated in court, thus freeing all future Android vendors from paying Microsoft a patent royalty.

Remeber Lindows? Microsoft paid $20M to make that lawsuit go away before it could have invalidated the "Windows" trademark.

Re:B&N Lawsuit

[shutdown -p now]

From the press release:

Barnes & Noble and Microsoft have settled their patent litigation, and moving forward, Barnes & Noble and Newco will have a royalty-bearing license under Microsoft’s patents for its NOOK eReader and Tablet products.

Re:B&N Lawsuit

[Anonymous Coward]

I wouldn't go waving the Lindows thing as an example of Microsoft in a losing proposition. That Lindows garbage was no better than the Tommy Hilfinger gear you buy down on Canal Street. It needed to die a flaming death.

I'm all for

[ClosedEyesSeeing]

Nookie Readers

Re:I'm all for

[Anonymous Coward]

Nookdows!

B&N were the only ones calling MS's bluff

[blind biker]

MS just buried the only lawsuit that could have blown a hole the size of Manhattan in their anti-Android patent portfolio.

Re:B&N were the only ones calling MS's bluff

[Anonymous Coward]

Bingo. Unlike all the journos, this person sees it for what it is. The playground bully demanding money for something they don't deserve, getting caught with their pants down, and having to cough up $300m to bribe B&N to letting them go on bullying other people. Steve Ballmer and Microsoft deserve no respect for the way they behave. May they all go to hell.

Re:B&N were the only ones calling MS's bluff

[recoiledsnake]

Alternatively, it could be B&N realizing that they're not able to compete with the Amazon Kindle and Fire juggernaut. Have you seen Amazon's recent results? The Fire has more than half of the Android tablets marketshare sewn up and all of the unified ecosystem is immensely helping them and making B&N fall further behind.

Re:B&N were the only ones calling MS's bluff

[Anonymous Coward]

In a sense, but now all anyone threatened with MS patent suits has to do is start to cry antitrust and watch MS fold.

No mention in the story

[jbernardo]

Strange, no mention that probably the main reason MSFT is paying $300M to B&N is to buy their way out of the "android patent extortion" law suite that B&N seemed close to winning. And probably B&N will also stop asking the DOJ to investigate the patent extortion and MSFT will keep extorting money from android device manufacturers in exchange of not taking them to court...

Re:No mention in the story

[jbernardo]

Doh, should have read the TFA more carefully. The final line in particular... :(

Re:No mention in the story

[sjwest]

Groklaw's view is the one i am waiting to read. Lets hope b&n's management are a lot more smarter than Novell management where when dealing with Microsoft.

Re:No mention in the story

[Lokitoth]

And they will still pay Microsoft royalties for Android. From the B&N press release (link from TFA):

Barnes & Noble and Microsoft have settled their patent litigation, and moving forward, Barnes & Noble and Newco will have a royalty-bearing license under Microsoft’s patents for its NOOK eReader and Tablet products

Above emphasis mine.

MS tax?

[synapse7]

Roughly a year ago B&N was fighting MS on android licensing fees, now MS is investing in them?

Re:MS tax?

[DragonWriter]

Roughly a year ago B&N was fighting MS on android licensing fees, now MS is investing in them?

MS is buying a 17.6% stake in the exact piece of B&N that it was suing (the Android-based reader/tablet business.)

Given that B&N's strategy to counter the MS "pay us to use Android" lawsuit was to challenge the validity of the Microsoft patents that were used in the lawsuit, it looks a lot like a $300 million payment from MS to B&N to stop challenging MS's patents, in order that the patents won't be struck down in court.

Re:MS tax?

[Rob Y.]

Would it be possible for owners of HTC, LG, etc phones to band together and file a class action suit against Microsoft for indirectly forcing them to pay bogus patent royalties? I doubt it, but it would be nice if somebody that can't be bought off were to challenge this shit.

Textbooks on the Nook

[ZombieBraintrust]

Regardless of why this agreement came about it is a good sign that B&N is filling the Textbook gap on the Nook. Currently their eTextbooks only work on the PC or Mac. They don't work on the Nook at all. So more money getting that fixed is a smart move.

For the OS and Business Model Changes...

[Volvogga]

I got the Nook e-reader over the Kindle due to the wider range of format support and B&N making the device rather open to me putting books I have from other stores on the device if I so choose. The ability to root and put some nicer designed apps onto the thing due to the Android OS was a very nice bonus, but not my main reason for buying.

The OS change won't bother me from an "I like android" point of view so long as it works well. I am not liking the idea of monochrome live-tiles on the e-ink display, however. I don't see that working well at all. I'm hoping that the heavy shift in power towards B&N will allow some sanity to prevail and they will just use Win8 on the color tablet models, and not on the e-ink models.

The format support is my next concern. Microsoft doesn't have the best DRM track record, and I would hate to see the nook become a complete walled garden platform similar to the Kindle. Again, I'm hoping those that come from B&N have enough power to keep the Nook being the reader of choice for those of us that don't want a Kindle.

Re:For the OS and Business Model Changes...

[Volvogga]

Err... ok, upon further reading, I misread the BBC article. A USA Today article states that the devices will most likely still run android and that B&N will make a nook e-reader Metro application to run on Windows 8, that will probably be default installed and have a high placement on the application list. There is nothing about running the Windows 8 ARM version on future Nook devices. My mistake!

Re:For the OS and Business Model Changes...

[DavidTC]

Yeah, I made the same mistake when reading. I was worried at first because I love my Nook STR and plan to keep buying them.

I especially love the fact I rooted mine so I can send books to it over the air, which was almost trivial.

1) Get Dropbox, install on desktop, and tell Calibre to open a directory in your dropbox as a 'device' so you can send books to it (You can make this happen at Calibre startup under advanced config)
2) Install DropSync or some other real Dropbox sync on the Nook, instead of the stupid non-syncing client you get when you root it. Tell what you pick to sync the directory in #2 to the Nook's book directory, either on the device or on the SD card. Tell it to sync on wifi, so you can just turn on wifi, wait ten minutes, turn it off.
3) [Optional] Install wifi automatic so your wifi starts when you plug the device in, and never have to worry about syncing again. Just plug it into the charger
4) [Optional] Install fbreader and use that instead of the stupid Nook reader. Doing this will also let you use NookTouchTools to remap the side buttons to volume control, so they work to page in other apps.

Nooky Reader/Books

[agentgonzo]

The BBC headline sounds more entertaining if you read it aloud.

you mean like how they got XP onto the OLPC XO?

[Locutus]

So Microsoft claims they're going to work to help a Linux/Android based tablet? Does anybody believe this or is it April 1st again?

Does anyone remember how Microsoft claimed they were working to help the OLPC group and was working with them on getting Windows XP running on the XO? They put 1 or 2 people on the job( seriously, they'd assigned 12 people just to one article author in the past ) and it got nowhere but to screw up the focus of the project and create lots of unrest within the org.

Microsoft does not _do_ anything but Windows and _never_ has. I see this as 100% a scam to terminate the Nook product line since they have shown nothing to prove otherwise. Talk is cheap and they've not done anything to show they are a product company as opposed to a Windows company.

And I thought B&N was smarter than this.

LoB

Re:you mean like how they got XP onto the OLPC XO?

[Locutus]

Never mind, a 2nd story clarified that it's about a Windows 8 application for Windows 8 PCs and not putting Windows 8 on the Nook.

In short, Microsoft paid B&N $300 milllion to drop the case Microsoft filed against them and agree to a license scheme which will end up putting Microsoft's DRM patented software on every Nook and Nook application. Probably give Microsoft exact numbers of Nook tablet units shipped and also get Microsoft access to college ebooks and other B&N ebook systems. You know, a enemy to an enemy(Amazon) is a friend and even more so when I get to pull his/her strings.

B&N has been having financial problems so $300 million is probably helpful and ending the trail expenses even if they were going to win was no doubt part of the calculations as to doing this deal.

LoB

You have it backwards

[betterunixthanunix]

Microsoft expects you to keep shoveling money into their coffers; DRM is a way to ensure that you function as Microsoft expects you to, i.e. in a way that enriches them. The fact that you own your device does not mean that you are free to do what you want with it; you are only free to do things that will help Microsoft compete with other companies, who all have roughly the same attitude about their customers.

What, did you think that because desktops and laptops gave you freedom, the hackers had won? Times have changed, and all those hackers who got rich giving people their freedom from IBM and AT&T have come to realize that freedom is not profitable.

Knew we picked the dark horse, but crap....

[smchris]

Zune, Nokia, now the death of Barnes & Noble. It's a shame. We liked the Nook.

Re:Knew we picked the dark horse, but crap....

[Junta]

Summary is misleading. It suggests the Nook devices will somehow relate to windows. However, the only concrete thing thusfar is that B&N will bother to make an app for windows phone and windows tablets whereas before they weren't going to bother. MS basically paid 300 million dollars to have their platform not be excluded from the nook market share. Basically, MS sees a chicken and egg problem (no users without apps, no app support without users) by throwing money at software vendors.

The timing is interesting though. As BBC noted, B&N stock soared and suggested a link between the MS deal and this, but there is also a large hedge-fund activity going on at the same time.

Microsoft and their sleazy tatctics

[andydread]

So the only way for microsoft to get its OS onto tablets and phones is to sue manufacturers into a "deal" and when they refuse and fight back then just pay them a lot of money to use Windows instead of a competitors O/S. Guess I won't be recommending any Windows nook to anyone when that comes out.

Re:Microsoft and their sleazy tatctics

[Anonymous Coward]

And the only way for Netscape to convince users to use their browser is for them to get the government to sue MS.

Watch This...

[dacullen]

Watch Microsoft duplicate ^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h innovate a walled garden based around a mobile operating systems, tablets, phones, apps and DRM infested content, including textbooks

But is the Nook OS changing?

[i_want_you_to_throw_]

I am a Mac/Linux user and I'm pretty darn happy with Nook's Android OS right now. I am guessing that the future Nooks are going to run some bastardized version of Windows? That would be my guess since it's "integrating with Windows 8". If so this is my last Nook.

Re:But is the Nook OS changing?

[Anonymous Coward]

Seems more like this deal will provide additional Nook platforms, not replace any (Nook for PC really means Nook for x86 Windows, so they are already supporting a "legacy" version), but time will tell.

Re:But is the Nook OS changing?

[Locutus]

and you'll probably have to add another pound of weight onto that of the current Nook once they try and slap Windows 8 into the device. That and MS will have to heavily subsidize it to keep the price from adding another $100/ea due to the extra hardware required by the Windows overhead.

Have you seen _any_ tablets the size of the Nook or Kindle running Windows 8? There's a reason.

LoB

Re:But is the Nook OS changing?

[Anonymous Coward]

a) Nobody said the Nook was going to run Windows.
b) Have you seen any ARM tablets running Windows 8? The Win8 tablets you've seen were probably running Sandy Bridge like a desktop-replacement.

Re:But is the Nook OS changing?

[Locutus]

turns out it's about the Nook application on Windows 8 based computers and not Windows 8 on Nook hardware with Nook software.

LoB

Re:But is the Nook OS changing?

[Locutus]

the article linked in the OP sounded like the Nook was getting Windows 8 and others posted with that in mind. Another article I read stated that it was the Nook application ported to Windows 8.

As for ARM tablets running Windows 8 goes, I've not seen any in person and those who have said that Microsoft won't let them touch them and can only see what the presenter is willing to show. That's why I doubted Windows 8 on any ARM hardware like what the Nook Color or Nook Tablet is running would be insufficient to run Windows 8. Again, that's a moot point since the whole thing is about Microsoft and B&N settling the patent dispute with Microsoft giving B&N $300 million to accept a licensing agreement and create a separate company where a Windows 8 Nook app will reside along with existing B&N ebook divisions.

It sounds like the Nook ebook apps will probably end up with special MS DRM and my guess is that the Nook might move from being a multi-format ebook reader. We'll see.

all in all, good for B&N for getting $300m for standing up to Microsoft but bad for the Android sector because it didn't go to court and get tossed out. Now there's Google/Motorola left and I'm not so sure they will take a payment from Microsoft to drop it.

LoB

Bring on the Kobo

[metrometro]

I'm done with lock in. I'll wait for the books, buy from DRM free publishers (Hi Baen! Hi TOR!), or read Jane Austin. Meanwhile, piracy. The hardware exists (the Kobo Touch is delightful), and open will win because it's a better f'ing product.

And yes, I am bitter that I have $100+ in books locked away on a broken Kindle and a broken Nook that I can't legally transfer to the device of my choice. (Learn from my fail: eInk screens require a case with a rigid screen protector. The screen's a creampuff.)

Re:Bring on the Kobo

[neo-mkrey]

You can download the Kindle Reader software to read your books on your computer.

Re:Bring on the Kobo

[Anonymous Coward]

You can download the Kindle Reader software to read your books on your computer.

Then you can spend 30s ripping the DRM off them and converting to EPUB then reading them on whatever you want.

Re:Bring on the Kobo

[BronsCon]

Hmm... that seems to fly in the face of my experience with eInk displays. I demonstrated the build quality of both a 1st gen Nook and a Nook SimpleTouch to my coworkers by whipping it across the office and bouncing it off of floors, walls, desks, and even one of my coworkers, without a case. Not a mark on either device after the abuse. That said, my ex did drop a pen off a table, onto her Nook, and it landed tip-down, leaving a nice little pit in the screen, which resulted in a small number of "stuck" pixels around the pit. Otherwise, the device worked fine.

Re:Bring on the Kobo

[metrometro]

It's exactly the stuck pixels via stabbing that destroyed both. Toss it in your bag with your car keys, and it's toast.

Re:Bring on the Kobo

[metrometro]

Principal matters here, because books are important to, say, education institutions, where civil disobedience (DRM removal edition) is not viable.

Re:Bring on the Kobo

[BronsCon]

Well, yeah, like your iPad wouldn't get scratched to all hell in the same situation. Set your bag down wrong and that screen is completely shattered.

It's not a build quality issue, the devices were mistreated. Period.

Re:Bring on the Kobo

[DragonWriter]

I'm done with lock in. I'll wait for the books, buy from DRM free publishers (Hi Baen! Hi TOR!), or read Jane Austin. Meanwhile, piracy. The hardware exists (the Kobo Touch is delightful), and open will win because it's a better f'ing product.

The Nook line (I currently use a Nook Color) of devices has no problem with DRM-free epubs (or PDFs, or a number of other formats) acquired from outside of the Nook store. In fact, that's the main thing I use my Nook Color for. If B&N wants to go DRM-free (or even, since AFAIK its actually DRM-at-publishers-option now but doesn't distinguish DRM-infested from DRM-free titles, just goes to DRM-identified), I'll think about buying e-books from them, but I don't need to buy e-books from them to get value out of their reader.

Re:Bring on the Kobo

[Anonymous Coward]

He certainly does matter, especially when you are called to his office!

oxymoron

[Anomalyst]

Smart management. If they were smart they couldn't become managers. The world is being nibbled to death by stupid PHCs (Pointy haried CxO) pronounced fuk, apologies to Scott Adams for vulgarising his acronym)

Where the DoNotWant tag

[Anomalyst]

It's desperately needed here.

Samsung is larger - by value

[alexander_686]

Samsung is the largest by value, overtaking Nokia.

I think Nokia is still number 1 by volume. (They sell a lot of cheaper "dumb" phones)

Re:Samsung is larger - by value

[Anonymous Coward]

You, sir, are wrong.

Re:Samsung is larger - by value

[Anne Thwacks]

In other words, Nokia phones sell well, so long as they don't have Windows on.

Slashdot inverse logic

[LeopardSeal]

Lots of weeping and gnashing of teeth over this. Just like there was over XBox, SQL Server, XP, Windows 7, etc. It's sure to be another success story.

Ehhhh.

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

Ehhhh...I wuz gonna ger a Kindle anyway.

Cap

[tepples]

most platforms offer some sort of over-the-air backup app

Reliance on over-the-air backup, as opposed to backup to an SD card, USB storage device, or PC, can hurt if you happen to live somewhere where even home Internet is capped.

psuedocode

[wbr1]

void main combineTwoFails(){
fail++
}

Microsoft... here I go!!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

It is funny though, as I was contemplating over a purchase between nook, kindle fire and upcoming asus 7" and samsung galaxy 7" tab yesterday, it is apparent now which one to be avoided at all costs.

The lawsuit will continue...

[who_stole_my_kidneys]

no it will continue, its just business. relations between companies are not the same as relations between humans (or in-case sub-humans), the part of the company that made the deal on the Nook, does not work with the part that made the lawsuit.

Integrating?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is that the new word for "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish"?

Touch of Death

[Anonymous Coward]

$300M touch of death from Microsoft? See what happened to Nokia.. Microsoft sent his man (Elop) to sucker Nokia into investing into the sinking Windows Phone (out of the pan and into the fire, eh?) I guess they managed to make WP7 somewhat usable, but nothing near the previous glorious phones. Hand-me-downs that they have to give for free to get sales. :-)

My guesstimate is that Nook will go to Windows 8 and die a slow and pitiful death. While Amazons Android-powered Fire will claim the marketshare.

Hardware reader or software reader?

[Alex Belits]

I still didn't get it from the article -- is it about Nook device or DRM-ed Nook-branded software for Windows (that was not even compatible with Nook device itself last time I checked)?

Low end (price wise) tablet

[Anonymous Coward]

It would make business sense because many people want a cheap tablet that's similar (maybe not with windows 8) to what they already use. If you want a full android os, you have to root it, and many consumers don't want to go through that trouble. It makes sense for b&n to go with Microsoft, and might give them a leg up in the tablet market. And hopefully b&n won't load it up with some kind of customized os, which would result in a similar situation

Total $605 million

[grouchomarxist]

According to the article below, the total will come to at least $605 million over three years.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303916904577375502392129654.html

Pop

[Hershmire]

I sense a bubble.

Target Kindle

[Anonymous Coward]

Target is now gong to stop selling the Kindle and Kindle Fire, their top selling ebook! I sense another lawsuit in the works over this development.