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

[omegahalo at gmail.com (Chris O'Connell)]

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> 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
> >)
> > 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>> wrote:
> >
> >     On 11/08/2011 07:39 PM, 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>
> Boston Linux and Unix
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