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Back in March, Microsoft submitted a novel device to the FCC which would utilize the unused “white spaces” in the US TV spectrum (which vary from city to city) for portable personal digital communications. Last week, the FCC’s assessment came in and it wasn’t a pretty sight because the prototype failed to correctly detect when frequencies were in use and would thereby cause interference. This week, more details came out it and it was revealed that Microsoft’s prototype was defective:
In recent months Microsoft has signed cross-license agreements with a number of large hardware electronics firms like Samsung and Seiko-Epson and today announced another with LG Electronics, the Korean electronics giant. This is standard practice for larger corporations, but there is a novel aspect in today’s agreement in view of Microsoft’s recent grumblings about Linux patent infringement:
LGE will be making ongoing payments to Microsoft for the value of Microsoft patents as they relate to Linux-based embedded devices that LGE produces.
That’s not exactly new since the Samsung announcement said:
Samsung will also obtain coverage from Microsoft for its customers’ use of certain Linux-based products.
It’s hard to tell what is really going on here from press releases and the companies won’t reveal the actual financial and technical details, but the whole point of cross-licensing agreements is mutual insurance. It wouldn’t surprise me if any of these firms using Linux took out a little Microsoft Linux insurance as part of the deal.
Some Microsoft news items from this week that did not find posts of their own:
State by state, Microsoft responds to creeping threat of OpenDocument Format:
Ed Homan, an orthopedic surgeon representing a central Florida district in the state legislature, thought an amendment touting open-source document formats he tucked into a 38-page bill wouldn’t draw much attention.
But within an hour of the proposed bill’s reading in late March, Homan said, he was greeted in his office by three lobbyists representing Microsoft Corp.
“They were here lickety-split,” Homan said. “I had no idea it was going to get that kind of reaction.”
Office 2003 SP3 will be a security upgrade featuring technologies from Office 2007. No date.
System Center Virtual Machine Manager Beta 2 released.
China Telecom gives Google Web advertising rights. Microsoft had earlier done a search deal with China Telecom, but doesn’t seem to be in any position to provide Chinese ads, since they have farmed their own out to Baidu.
No demand for Microsoft Office in the cloud according to Microsoft execs. No surprise there.
Executive departures:
Microsoft angst fodder:
Legal shenanigans:
Finally one from last week - Microsoft and Samsung signed a broad patent cross-licensing agreement.
Companies that provide television over internet protocol technology joined forces on Monday to set a single global standard, so that all systems would work together.
The Open IPTV Forum is backed by companies including Ericsson, Matsushita’s Panasonic, Philips, Samsung Electronics, Siemens, Sony, AT&T, Telecom Italia and France Telecom.
Not on the starting list are Alcatel-Lucent and Microsoft, the market leaders and alliance partners in IPTV networks and software.
Filmmakers and TV production companies were not on the list either, but the forum said everyone could join.
…
The nine founding companies said they want results fast and will hammer out technology requirements by September and a first set of technology specifications by year-end.
Microsoft and Alcatel-Lucent are busy suing each other over patents of course, but that doesn’t seem to keep them from forging ahead in IPTV.
Speaking of the patent lawsuits, I see that Microsoft has now got the U.S. International Trade Commission on Alcatel-Lucent’s back. You’d think that such great pals could work out a deal.
