09.12.07
What Patents Does Microsoft Have?
In these days of concern and amid many attempts to create legal uncertainty and fear, one ought ask: what type of things does Microsoft patent? Here are some of the very latest ‘innovations’, which also happen to be consumer-hostile.
New Microsoft Patents
Punishment patents are a reflection of malice.
On Tuesday, the USPTO granted Microsoft a patent for privacy policy change notification, which describes how to threaten users with the loss of their accounts and access to web sites and services should they refuse to consent to changes in a privacy policy.
DRM patents are yet another (sure-to-fail) attempt to create a system that cannot be cracked and will not hurt innocent customers.
Microsoft has won a patent for a digital-watermarking technology that is inaudibly embedded in the audio signal and cannot be removed
Recent Microsoft Patent Applications
And everyone loves forced advertisements, right?
“The kernel meets The Colonel in a just-published Microsoft patent application for an Advertising Services Architecture, which delivers targeted advertising as ‘part of the OS.’
Not to mention how much people appreciate intrusion…
The adware framework would leave almost no data untouched in its quest to sell you stuff. It would inspect “user document files, user e-mail files, user music files, downloaded podcasts, computer settings, computer status messages (e.g., a low memory status or low printer ink),” and more. How could we have been so blind as to not see the marketing value in computer status messages?
Needless to say, none of these insidious patents can actually affect Linux. Linux and Free software honour the consumer rather than utilise methods that exploit users for profits.
Harassments Attack
Another nasty new lawsuit targets a lot of the Wi-Fi sector.
NTP Inc. sued Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp. for infringing on its patents related to mobile email services, a follow-up to its high-profile litigation with BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion Ltd. - Amol Sharma, WSJ.com
This could wreak havoc everywhere, except some layers’ bank accounts.
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.