Microsoft scores biggest patent licensee yet

And I was hoping to learn what the patent was actually for.

Weird MS gets paid by android users.

About time we started using ubuntu:

Ubuntu on tablets | Ubuntu

[url]http://insights.ubuntu.com/mobile/ubuntu-for-smartphones-grabs-global-headlines/
[/URL]

SIW2 said:

Weird MS gets paid by android users.

About time we started using ubuntu:

Ubuntu on tablets | Ubuntu

Click to expand...

My thoughts too......

It looks better than android to me.

They are a bit late with it though.

I'm beginning to think some of you really do have it out for MS.....

I blame canonical for this stuff.

They have had unity and the one os for all devices mantra going for about 3 yrs now.

Took them a while to get the phone and tablet UI sorted out.

Hard to say if the oems will bite.

They already know they can sell android in vast quantities - bit of a gamble to tool up for something else. They might just eat into their android sales and be worse off overall.

We don't know yet if there is a big market for a proper os on a tablet/phone.

Hi there
Didn't originally Bill Gates get paid 1 USD for each keystroke any computer made when using Windows -- Don't regret it if it's true as the Gates Foundation has probably given more money to SENSIBLE charities than any other organisation on the planet.

Chrome OS or something out of Google will probably be the OS of choice for smallish mobile devices -- can't really see Windows 8 eating into that market somehow. I like the W8 phones I've seen but the whole concept of a Mobile OS is quite different from a desktop OS.

I always check the calendar to make sure that it's not Apr 1 when I see there are possibilities of Ms developing Ms Office for Android -- go on guys have a go at using a full scale office suite on a touch screen of around 4.5 inches -- even WITH 20/20 vision and fingers the size of matchsticks.

Cheers
jimbo

I just hope these are honest to goodness legit patents, rather than many of these pie in the sky, vague software type patents which have been collected by these tech companies. I just don't see how you can patent a concept, a specific design, yes.

jimbo45 said:

I always check the calendar to make sure that it's not Apr 1 when I see there are possibilities of Ms developing Ms Office for Android -- go on guys have a go at using a full scale office suite on a touch screen of around 4.5 inches -- even WITH 20/20 vision and fingers the size of matchsticks.

Click to expand...

It's funny you should mention this.

My friend bought a tiny new Android phone yesterday.

Today he was trying to create Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents on it.
I don't know what App he was using (he hasn't downloaded any Apps, as he hates the "you must surrender to Google" download restriction).

Funnily enough, even though he managed to create the files, he proclaimed that it was a ridiculous exercise.

Lol! Reminds me of a late sixties song called Matchstick Men.

Ok. What about using a stylus?

SIW2 said:

I blame canonical for this stuff.

They have had unity and the one os for all devices mantra going for about 3 yrs now.

Took them a while to get the phone and tablet UI sorted out.

Hard to say if the oems will bite.

They already know they can sell android in vast quantities - bit of a gamble to tool up for something else. They might just eat into their android sales and be worse off overall.

We don't know yet if there is a big market for a proper os on a tablet/phone.

Click to expand...

Why point blame? I think it to be one of the most ingenious ideas of modern times. Think synch.

lehnerus2000 said:

jimbo45 said:

I always check the calendar to make sure that it's not Apr 1 when I see there are possibilities of Ms developing Ms Office for Android -- go on guys have a go at using a full scale office suite on a touch screen of around 4.5 inches -- even WITH 20/20 vision and fingers the size of matchsticks.

Click to expand...

It's funny you should mention this.

My friend bought a tiny new Android phone yesterday.

Today he was trying to create Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents on it.
I don't know what App he was using (he hasn't downloaded any Apps, as he hates the "you must surrender to Google" download restriction).

Funnily enough, even though he managed to create the files, he proclaimed that it was a ridiculous exercise.

Click to expand...

Hi there
What Ms COULD do for say android TABLET / Ipad / Mac users is why not create a "Virtual appliance" containing Office -- then all the user would need to do would be to install the "fully featured" virtual appliance. This is essentially a dedicated Virtual machine with a small windows kernel that would run Office apps straight OOB.

Then Ms doesn't need to have umpteen different versions with all their own quirks depending on the OS it was developed to run on.

Cheers
jimbo

SIW2 said:

I blame canonical for this stuff.

They have had unity and the one os for all devices mantra going for about 3 yrs now.

Took them a while to get the phone and tablet UI sorted out.

Hard to say if the oems will bite.

They already know they can sell android in vast quantities - bit of a gamble to tool up for something else. They might just eat into their android sales and be worse off overall.

We don't know yet if there is a big market for a proper os on a tablet/phone.

Click to expand...

I never understood the debacle with the Unity stuff on Ubuntu, I've looked into it and it isn't even anywhere close like Windows 8.

lehnerus2000 said:

jimbo45 said:

I always check the calendar to make sure that it's not Apr 1 when I see there are possibilities of Ms developing Ms Office for Android -- go on guys have a go at using a full scale office suite on a touch screen of around 4.5 inches -- even WITH 20/20 vision and fingers the size of matchsticks.

Click to expand...

It's funny you should mention this.

My friend bought a tiny new Android phone yesterday.

Today he was trying to create Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents on it.
I don't know what App he was using (he hasn't downloaded any Apps, as he hates the "you must surrender to Google" download restriction).

Funnily enough, even though he managed to create the files, he proclaimed that it was a ridiculous exercise.

Click to expand...

I can make a Word document in five seconds and have about three pages of actual content in about an hour or so. I would need to know what I'm saying first to get it going.

I can also open an Excel spreadsheet of my monthly finances on my Windows Phone and add onto it pretty easily.

I can also view PowerPoints and edit them on the Windows Phone as well.

OneNote lists are DREADFULLY simple to do.

The reason why Microsoft gets money off android is due royalties from patents that are used in android without their authorization so much. They were able to convince certain major android OEMs to pay the royalties to basically avoid an apple v. samsung situation where patents were obviously being used without recompense. This patent agreement just takes it a step further, and also makes android not really free to use anymore when I think last I read it was about 30 dollars a pop per android install.

This is why I've never liked android to begin with, it's really a platform of idea leeching and calling it better than the rest.

Coke Robot said:

This is why I've never liked android to begin with, it's really a platform of idea leeching and calling it better than the rest.

Click to expand...

Just as MS has done throughout the years as well. This happens a lot in the tech industry.

Many of these so called "patents" are simply paper pushing money grabs. Heck, all too often the company didn't actually invent any type of technology, but rather filed the paperwork to get something patented that already existed. Case in point, the Microsoft patent for "Page up and page down" that they filed in 2005 and were awarded. United States Patent: 7415666. I wonder what those keys were designed to do for the previous 30-40 years that they existed on every keyboard prior to this revolutionary invention.

No disrespect intended, but this isn't a technology that needs to be protected. It's not a revolutionary inventiony, it's not intellectual property. Filing for this, and having people evaluate it was truly a massive waste of time, money and effort.

Here is a list of some of these absurd patents that Android has violated:
The 11 patents that are getting Android partners in trouble
Things like

1. launching an email app to send an email if you click on an email message
2. generating a meeting request using a mobile device
3. a portable electronic device for photo management and moving from picture to picture.

And when you note that there are 1.5 million Android activation per day, that's a lot of money rolling in for Microsoft: Google Exec Reports 1.5 Million Daily Android Activations | Maximum PC.

pparks1 said:

Coke Robot said:

This is why I've never liked android to begin with, it's really a platform of idea leeching and calling it better than the rest.

Click to expand...

Just as MS has done throughout the years as well. This happens a lot in the tech industry.

Many of these so called "patents" are simply paper pushing money grabs. Heck, all too often the company didn't actually invent any type of technology, but rather filed the paperwork to get something patented that already existed. Case in point, the Microsoft patent for "Page up and page down" that they filed in 2005 and were awarded. United States Patent: 7415666. I wonder what those keys were designed to do for the previous 30-40 years that they existed on every keyboard prior to this revolutionary invention.

No disrespect intended, but this isn't a technology that needs to be protected. It's not a revolutionary inventiony, it's not intellectual property. Filing for this, and having people evaluate it was truly a massive waste of time, money and effort.

Here is a list of some of these absurd patents that Android has violated:
The 11 patents that are getting Android partners in trouble
Things like

1. launching an email app to send an email if you click on an email message
2. generating a meeting request using a mobile device
3. a portable electronic device for photo management and moving from picture to picture.

Click to expand...

The thing about android is that it's used basically again, take others' ideas and wrap it up and give it off for free. The apple v Samsung trial really showed off how it was used to make an iphone knockoff, instead of being an original product, it had to use ios as a design template quite frankly. If you look at a Samsung galaxy and an iphone, they share quite similar design traits. I don't find that to be cool at all. But yeah, it does happen in the tech industry quite often, that's probably why everyone is trying to get a patent on everything as they possibly can. Microsoft has a patent on Windows Phone's UI design, I think that might actually cover Windows 8 as well... That might be a smart move as it seems other platforms are starting to take note of the modern/metro design form that Microsoft has been using for a few years (and more if you look into it further) now.

The patent system in the US is sooo messed up. Some of the most vague and random things in technology can get patented and then spurs patent trolls and patent wars over something so mundane. But it gets tricky sometimes when there IS a valid patent on something in particular that is tangible that something for example, android uses without recompense. android is freeware basically, but it uses intellectual property to be a complete product. That's the thing, regardless of how stupid some of the patents android is in violation of, google doesn't properly license them before letting their OEM partners use it and prevent them from getting into trouble, as that's why some of them pay royalties to Microsoft.

But honestly, I think this latest move by Microsoft with android royalties is really nothing more than an, "F' you and your goat" type of move. google doesn't really have much control over their OEMs or any influence. Some of them are Microsoft's OEM clients, like Samsung. So they basically are getting patent royalty deal over android from Foxconn which pretty much says to google, "We have more control over android than you do." I personally say google deserves it considering their stupid moves recently with Windows Phone and cutting of pretty much any google service as much as possible on it. It also might push some android handset makers that build PCs with Windows to possibly consider building Windows Phones over android since they're already paying a royalty for android.

Coke Robot said:

The apple v Samsung trial really showed off how it was used to make an iphone knockoff, instead of being an original product, it had to use ios as a design template quite frankly. If you look at a Samsung galaxy and an iphone, they share quite similar design traits.

Click to expand...

I never once considered an iPhone, but yet own the Samsung. I see very little similarities between the devices when you turn them on and use them. The apple v samsung thing was really about the tablets looking almost identical. I don't remember it so much being the phones.