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Nikon Buckles To Microsoft, Will Pay "Android Tax" For Smart Cameras

Posted by timothy on from the by-all-means dept.

walterbyrd writes with news that Nikon is the latest company to agree to pay Microsoft for the privilege of using Android on its devices — as you might expect from Nikon, the devices in this case are cameras. (Microsoft's press release.)

7 of 272 comments (clear)

  1. Hey buddy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You settin' up shop on my street? Nobody, I sez *nobody*... sets up shop on my street without talkin' to me foyst. OK, listen pal. Here's what I'm gonna a do for you. You just pay me a little bidda money on everything you sellz, and I'z a gonna look dee otha way, capiche?

    You callin' this "extortion"? That's a big word, my friend. 'Round here we just call it biz niss.

    1. Re:Hey buddy by andydread · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So what the fuck do you suggesst buddy? I mean you sit down at your computer and bang out some open source code that is your code yet you and possibly others have to pay MS for the privilege of using your own code? You think Joe BIden gives a fuck what you have to say about this? These are the same fuckers that worship bill gates when he shows up to petition congress. I don't know at this point what to do about it. Even the President was asked about this software patent bullshit by Lady Ada and his answer "blah we gotta protect 'intellectual property' blah blah" Then you have the current patent office head who equates litigation to innovation so what can be done? The bottom line is that Microsoft is abusing the system to put a cost on as much open source software as possible. THis is not about Android its per say its about Linux and opensource and being able to use any computing device without paying MS. Its egregious disgusting behavior.

  2. Confusing press release without context by dmomo · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's some info on the patents that Microsoft claims android is in violation of:

    http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/070611-microsoft-android.html

    1. Re:Confusing press release without context by inode_buddha · · Score: 5, Informative

      Re-posting this as a non-AC so that everyone sees it:

      "And as a follow-up to that article from 1.5 years ago, be it noted that when B&N hung tough, and was willing to go to court, MS "settled" by investing $300M in a joint venture, and they became good buddies who were not going to have such silly squabbles any more.

      Interesting that they have not gone after Apple's iOS on a lot of those same "patents" - have they?

      YMMV"

      MS *really* doesn't want to go to court over these patents, nor do they want anybody knowing exactly what they are about... As for the FAT patents? Those were unenforcable long ago. http://www.geek.com/articles/law/microsoft-fat-patent-shot-down-2004101

      --
      C|N>K
  3. Real target is not Android by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The real target of all this bullshit from Microsoft is the use of firmware with software other than what comes from Redmond, period. Face it Microsoft has been squeezed out of the embedded market largely because of the flexibility of OSS and the Linux kernel.

    The best and only solution is for manufactures to turn on the bastards and stop using fat and ntfs period or charge more for devices that do.

    This could easily be accomplished by providing a software tool with the cheaper devices to read write to Windows without the use of fat or ntfs. If Samsung, Nikon, Sony, Toshiba, Canon and all the other manufacturers got together and created a formatting tool for storage that they shared this could easily be accomplished.

    Having one company dictate the format in which all portable storage devices read and write is the problem and the bastards in Redmond need to be held to task and given a full financial enema for a change.

  4. Re:More like Nikon is the victim. by bmo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    >Help me understand - you are mad at the victim?

    The problem with danegeld is that you never get rid of the Dane.

    Paying off Microsoft is the absolutely wrong "solution" to this and only emboldens Microsoft. Microsoft can point at all these people paying danegeld and say "hey, you have to pay too."

    It's why we all got mad at people who paid SCO for their extortion.

    Fuck Microsoft, but also fuck Nikon for financing their extortion.

    --
    BMO

  5. Re:Time for Microsoft to be sued out of existence by NeilBryant · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Personally, I've used MS Office since 2.0. I've taught classes in many versions. If I go boot up Word on my work machine, now, I can't find a flipping thing. It's easier to get around in LibreOffice. And all that time I spent getting good at Office feel like as big a waste of time as VisualBasic.