[Discuss] (OT) Barnes & Noble wants DOJ probe into Microsoft patent tactics

[brendan at glump.net (Brendan Kidwell)]

(Excuse the complete quoting of Jerry's message. I'm using Gmail for
Blackberry with no quoting control.)

I bought a Nook last year intending to use it only with content I
prepare and control -- mostly free stuff. Anything good out of the
Nook Store would be bonus. I wasn't the least bit surprised or
disappointed when I tried out a subscription to the Christian Science
Monitor weekly from B&N and found every third or fourth issue crashed
my up-to-date reader app on the Nook. When I complained to B&N
customer service they didn't seem to care.

Anyone have a similar Kindle problem ever? If so how did Amazon react
to your inquiry?

I do buy B&N DRMed ebooks occasionally, but that's with the intention
of removing the DRM immediately and using tools like Sigil if
necessary to fix flaws. The average price for books for both platforms
is completely unreasonable considering the DRM and level of quality
control I've seen.



On 11/10/11, Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org> wrote:
> HTC is suing Microsoft. Most likely the value of paying for a license is
> cheaper than a messy lawsuit. Remember back when TSCOG was extorting
> Linux users, many paid TSCOG until other companies, such as Red Hat, HP,
> IBM indemnified their customers.
>
> I think that B&N has an interesting problem. First, they are
> historically a seller of books. When Amazon came onto the scene, B&N
> added an online presence. I think the company is still mentally a retail
> book seller, and while they are building the Nook product line and
> providing ebooks, they are still organized as a retail book seller, and
> probably have not set up the proper support infrastructure so your
> criticism of B&N is certainly correct. Fortunately I have not had to
> contact their customer service.
>
> On 11/10/2011 08:43 AM, Chris O'Connell wrote:
>> I've been doing a little research about this issue.  Interestingly,
>> HTC and Samsung have both developed agreements with Microsoft ranging
>> somewhere between $5 and $10 per Android device.  I have to assume
>> lawyers for HTC and Samsung both examined Microsoft's patent claims
>> and decided that they were valid enough that an agreement was in
>> order.  Most likely Microsoft's patents are generalized an vague, but
>> could be upheld in court making an agreement more cost effective than
>> a law suit.
>>
>> If any company other than B&N were to stand up against Microsoft I
>> would probably be cheering.  However, I think that in this case two
>> factors come into play here:
>> 1.  B&N wasn't competent enough to negotiate an agreement with
>> Microsoft, thus they are crying foul.
>> 2.  B&N values money more than customers.  If they spent half the
>> energy and effort they've spent speaking out against MS and Amazon
>> they *might* have a halfway workable product with customer service
>> that actually serves their customers.
>>
>> This is not to say that I think what Microsoft is doing is fair, but I
>> don't know all of the details.  I assume that if MS patent claims were
>> completely invalid HTC and Samsung, along with the other android
>> device makers, would have jointly gone after MS in court.
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Nov 10, 2011 at 7:42 AM, Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org
>> <mailto:gaf at blu.org>> wrote:
>>
>>     I would also agree with that, I saw your FB post.
>>
>>     On 11/09/2011 07:39 AM, Chris O'Connell wrote:
>>     > I would like someone to investigate the way Barnes and Noble treats
>>     > their customers.  Instead of insulting Amazon's new competing
>>     product
>>     >
>>
>> (http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/07/tech/gaming-gadgets/nook-kindle-war/index.html?eref=rss_tech&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_tech+%28RSS%3A+Technology%29
>>
>> <http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/07/tech/gaming-gadgets/nook-kindle-war/index.html?eref=rss_tech&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_tech+%28RSS%3A+Technology%29>
>>     >
>>
>> <http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/07/tech/gaming-gadgets/nook-kindle-war/index.html?eref=rss_tech&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_tech+%28RSS%3A+Technology%29
>>
>> <http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/07/tech/gaming-gadgets/nook-kindle-war/index.html?eref=rss_tech&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_tech+%28RSS%3A+Technology%29>>)
>>     > and crying about unfair licensing practices they should be
>>     focusing on
>>     > improving their broken customer service and creating a quality
>>     product
>>     > that's less bug-ridden than the ones they usually release.
>>     >
>>     > On Wed, Nov 9, 2011 at 7:28 AM, Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org
>>     <mailto:gaf at blu.org>
>>     > <mailto:gaf at blu.org <mailto:gaf at blu.org>>> wrote:
>>     >
>>     >     On 11/08/2011 07:39 PM, edwardp at linuxmail.org
>>     <mailto:edwardp at linuxmail.org>
>>     >     <mailto:edwardp at linuxmail.org
>>     <mailto:edwardp at linuxmail.org>> wrote:
>>     >     > Microsoft is going after device makers who use Android.
>>     >     >
>>     >     >
>>     >
>>
>> http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57320800-75/barnes-noble-wants-doj-probe-into-microsoft-patent-tactics/?tag=mncol;topStories
>>     >     >
>>     >     It is good that B&N is standing up to them.
>>     >
>>     >
>>
>>
>>     --
>>     Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org <mailto:gaf at blu.org>>
>>     Boston Linux and Unix
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>
>
> --
> Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
> Boston Linux and Unix
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