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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:
Wolfgang Gruener has the eulogy for Origami at TG Daily in “The UMPC dies. And no one notices“:
Ok, let’s not be so dramatic. It really depends on your view if the UMPC is actually dead or alive. However, the idea of the Ultra Mobile PC as it was pitched to us in 2006, as an ultra cool and always connected companion that is with us anytime and anywhere, is gone for good. Expect the current UMPC generation to leave the general retail market very soon.
During a recent conversation with Intel, which has been one of the first companies to show UMPC concepts and unveil some prototype devices a little over a year a ago, we learned that the initial concept of the UMPC has failed. While the form factor of the UMPC won’t go away, these devices have been less appealing to the mass market than expected and have been redirected to aim at the business market, for example field technicians who use bulky Tablet PCs today. If Intel has its way, then what once was the mass market UMPC will morph into much smaller and less powerful “mobile Internet devices,” short “MID”.
So, if you have been dreaming about that cool little tablet you can bring on vacation instead of dragging that notebook bag along, continue to dream. While MIDs will be more affordable, come in a smaller package and offer more connectivity options than today’s UMPCs, they will be far less capable in terms of processing power and storage capabilities.
Everyone wanted the product that was misleadingly hyped, but it couldn’t be delivered. There’s much more by following the link including speculation as to whether smartphones actually leave any market room for the the MID.
More tech companies than just Microsoft are breathing a sigh of relief after Microsoft’s last ditch appeal to the US Supreme Court prevailed and limited liability for infringement of a domestic software patent abroad. IDG News Service’s Jeremy Kirk explains:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Microsoft is not liable for using patented AT&T technology in copies of Windows running on computers outside the United States.
The 7-to-1 ruling relieves the software giant from paying what could have been enormous damages and changes how the software industry looks at patent rights.
Microsoft has previously admitted to violating an AT&T patent for converting speech to computer code, which it incorporated into tens of millions of copies of its Windows OS. It settled with AT&T in the United States, but disputed that Windows software running on machines located overseas were covered by the patent.
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In delivering the court’s opinion, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote that the “master disk” or “electronic transmission” Microsoft gives to foreign manufacturers does not violate the patent on its own since that specific copy is not used on foreign-made computers.
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The Supreme Court was the last stop for Microsoft, which had lost a previous court battle. In July 2005, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a lower-court ruling that Microsoft was liable to pay fines for foreign sales of patent-infringing software even if it was originally created in the United States.
But Microsoft had gained broad support in its defense efforts, including the Bush administration and tech giants Amazon.com, Intel, and Yahoo, and industry groups such as the Business Software Alliance and the American Intellectual Property Law Association.
Frankly, this seems like putting a Band-Aid on patent laws that are clearly inadequate for modern software (and other) technology, but that’s an all too common story.
Update 5/1: As for what it means to Microsoft:
Brad Smith tells the Wall Street Journal’s Jess Bravin today (click here) that the ruling will lop off about 60% of its exposure in the 45 patent cases pending against it today.
You may recall an odd device under development by Microsoft that caused a stir in early February when it was mistaken for a Zune phone. Well, it’s back in the news and may cause even a bigger stir as John Letzing explains at MarketWatch:
When Microsoft Corp. delivers a mysterious prototype for government testing this coming week, it will mark a crucial juncture for a high-stakes bid to change the way consumers get their Internet access.
That bid has cast Microsoft and a group of powerful allies from Silicon Valley in the relatively unfamiliar role of Washington policy players.
Microsoft’s prototype, delivered on behalf of the group, is a wireless device that could provide the public with free and more widespread access to the Web instead of relying on networks owned by big telecom and cable firms.
That breakthrough, tapping into an unused part of the nation’s airwaves, is politically charged because it threatens to shift the Internet-access business away from telecom and cable companies that are historically well-connected in Washington, throwing open the field to a brand new batch of competitors.
It all hinges on how well the prototype performs in tests by the Federal Communications Commission. Microsoft and allies must prove that such devices, which can connect users via unlicensed portions of the nation’s wireless spectrum known as white spaces, won’t interfere with airwaves that major license holders acquired for large sums. While the FCC is obligated to protect license holders from such interference, several “white spaces” bills introduced in Congress have placed added pressure on the commission to wrap up the tests in a hurry.
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Analysts say that if the white-space group succeeds, consumers could see a flood of new devices enabling them to bypass the networks of incumbent service providers like AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. to get online. White spaces, which sit between bands used for TV, could theoretically be licensed; but the tech group is explicitly pushing to allow unlicensed use — or use similar to picking up WiFi signals at a cafe.
The group lined up with Microsoft includes Google, HP, Dell, and Intel which, while mighty in the tech world, are novices in the corridors of power compared to the telecoms and cable companies. The opposition is already on the case as well they might be:
“The telephone companies are terrified they’ll lose 40% of their wireless minutes, because you’ll be able to connect from work or home and bypass their wireless networks,” said J.H. Snider, research director of the wireless future program at the New America Foundation, a Washington-based policy institute that has long advocated to allow use of white spaces.
There’s much more in the full article, but the FCC has until July to complete testing and may decide on the matter by October.
