Re: Tom Tom and Microsofts Linux patent lock-down ..

[amicus_curious]

"Doug Mentohl" <doug_mentohl@linuxmail.org> wrote in message 
news:gph2oh$pkh$1@news.datemas.de...
> 'Microsoft's got a long history of licensing its File Allocation 
> Table/Long File Name (FAT LFN) with companies in the car navigation space 
> and that have specifically been using Linux and open source'
>
> 'Microsoft's corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of 
> intellectual property and licensing Horacio Gutierrez said 18 companies 
> had signed up, including Kenwood, Alpine, and Pioneer'
>
> 'Microsoft is eroding Linux and open source and slowing their development. 
> A deal with Microsoft prevents GPL'd code from returning to the ecosystem 
> whence it came, with any improvements or updates, as companies that do 
> patent licensing deals with Microsoft must keep it in-house ...'
>
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/06/microsoft_tomtom_patent_licensing/

Not to belittle your efforts in keeping everyone informed here, but this 
article is just a rehash of the Computerworld blogger's own opinions.  It is 
rather 4th hand and not a very compelling analysis.  The TomTom case is most 
likely a plain vanilla effort to continue to collect on the automotive 
navigation patents which seem to be almost universally licensed by companies 
in that business.  Like it or not, the Linux impact is just a sideshow and 
collateral damage at best.  Linux does not seem to be worth a full frontal 
attack.