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“Brace for impact!”: Microsoft Warns Employees of Likely Antitrust Fine
John Dvorak: Why Microsoft won’t buy Yahoo: “Sometimes you have to laugh out loud when a report comes out with analysis and suggestions that are so far out in left field that they can only be categorized as completely insane.” I felt bad that I didn’t have time to say something snarky about last week’s rumor, but I feel much better after reading Dvorak.
Microsoft Faces Class Action Suit: Lawsuit alleges that Windows Genuine Advantage antipiracy tool violates consumer protection laws. Unfortunately predictable. Also predictable is a worm pretending to be a WGA tester.
MobiTV does Windows Mobile: MobiTV Enables Consumers to Watch Live and Made-for-Mobile Television Content on Windows Mobile Powered Devices
Microsoft readies an “Ultimate” keyboard/mouse combo to ship alongside Vista which would go well with the rumored Microsoft branded Vista optimizing 22″ TFT monitor.
Microsoft launches CodePlex shared source project site: We mentioned it back in May when the beta test started.
A blast from the past: Microsoft says Go antitrust suit dismissed.
The Microsoft Hardware folks just keep chugging along in their nice little niche. Today the High Definition family of mice announced last September was expanded:
In response to consumer demand for higher-performing peripherals at work or play, Microsoft Hardware is expanding its High Definition line of mouse products. Microsoft Corp. is relaunching its No. 1 best-selling mouse1, the Microsoft® Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse, to feature the company’s proprietary High Definition technology. Rounding out the line expansion are two new desktop mice — one optical and one laser. In keeping with Microsoft Hardware’s commitment to offering its customers the best in performance and value, the line now includes a High Definition notebook and desktop mouse for less than $30 (U.S.). Praised for responsiveness, precision and smoother tracking, Microsoft’s High Definition line continues to raise the bar for mouse performance.
“Since we launched our High Definition line just last September, we have sold over a million units,” said Rusty Jeffress, general manager of the Hardware Group at Microsoft. “We design our proprietary chip technology to provide our customers with the best possible performance so they enjoy their computing experiences no matter where they are.”
Elizabeth Montalbano at InfoWorld reports:
In a continued effort to derive revenue from licensing patented technology, Microsoft (Profile, Products, Articles) plans to let third parties license intellectual property (IP) it developed for its own mouse products.
Microsoft will open up licensing for three technologies — Tilt Wheel, U2, and Magnifier, said David Kaefer, a director of business development for Microsoft. It marks the first time the company is licensing patents for hardware technology, he said.
…
Licensing patented technology to third parties is a fairly new practice for Microsoft. In 2003, the company hired Marshall Phelps, the mastermind behind IBM’s patent-licensing program, to lead its IP Licensing Group, hoping to follow IBM’s success in making money from charging third parties to use technology it has patented.IBM has earned the most patents of any company worldwide for 13 years running. According to its 2005 financial statement, the company that year earned nearly $367 million in royalty-based licensing fees and $236 million in sales and other transfers of IP.
Rob Enderle, principal analyst for the Enderle Group, said Microsoft is interested in seeing its own patent-licensing business grow not only to make more money, but also to have a hand in directing future uses for products that use its IP.
“Microsoft has learned over time that license revenue goes straight to the bottom line and has virtually no risk associated with it,” he said. “More importantly, if what you license is broadly used, it gives you substantial say on the direction of future offerings that use your stuff.”
I guess, but the money is real nice too. You can track the latest Microsoft patent activity at LatestPatents.com.
Jay Greene at BusinessWeek Online:
After getting trounced for four years in the digital music business by Apple Computer (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT) finally seems poised to do something about it. BusinessWeek has learned that the software giant is working on plans to develop its own portable digital media device to rival the iPod, rather than just providing technology to partners. Microsoft hasn’t decided if it will go ahead. But sources inside the company and at its partners say Microsoft has put together a team that’s considering the business end of such an initiative.
Going forward with it would be an acknowledgement that the current strategy isn’t working. Chairman William H. Gates III has argued that consumers would prefer a vast choice of devices to the limited selection from Apple. That’s why Microsoft has relied on dozens of partners to come up with sleek devices and clever online-music services that use its software.
More by following the link including Xbox VP Peter Moore’s comment that it should be a portable gaming device as well as a music player (Xpod?), and Creative Technology’s CEO Sim Wong Hoo’s observation that such a move would undercut Microsoft’s efforts to get widespread use of their digital media technology.
Microsoft’s reliance on hardware partners in the PC space has kept them out of the notoriously low margin side of the business while still allowing them extensive control of hardware specifications across the industry. The Microsoft forays into PC related hardware have always seemed to be to fill gaps that partners weren’t covering and then were promptly followed by withdrawals as the market matured (e.g. Wi-Fi networking). The only one remaining is the longtime operation making keyboards, mice, and game controllers.
The Xbox is a different animal, of course, and perhaps a different model applies to portable music players as well. Steve Jobs thinks so:
The problem is, the PC model doesn’t work in the consumer electronics industry, where you’ve got all these companies and some does one thing and another does another thing. It just doesn’t work. What’s going to happen is that Microsoft is going to have to get into the hardware business of making MP3 players. This year. X-player, or whatever.
In any case, the story gets a sort of left handed confirmation from a Microsoft spokesman
A spokeswoman for the company called the BusinessWeek story “speculation,” but confirmed that Microsoft was considering its own music player, along with many other projects stemming from a major reorganization announced last year.
That was the reorganization which installed former Xbox boss Robbie Bach as the head of the Microsoft Entertainment & Devices Division and he apparently has big plans ([1], [2]).
