02.11.08
What Does Samsung’s Linux Deal Mean to Android and Mono?
Yesterday [1], as well as last week, we mentioned Samsungs’s role in Linux. Reasons why this is risky were highlighted also.
In short, Samsung has opened the door to ‘taxation’ on Linux devices. Since Microsoft cannot sell Windows CE and Windows Mobile too well (these divisions lose billions of dollars) and since Microsoft does not sell hardware, it must seek alternative revenue sources. It then makes an attempt to extract revenue from its rivals, using software patents and unsubstantiated claims/threats.
Samsung appears to have not only chosen LiMo, but it is now embracing Google’s Android as well.
Samsung aims to expand its mobile offering with a new range of Android and Linux-based handsets, it has announced.
Bear the following points in mind:
- Recently, LiMo came under some pressure to include Mono, which is a patent/copyrights bomb [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33].
- When Android was unveiled, Miguel de Icaza quite immediately spoke about the possibility of putting Mono in it.
- When the Samsung-Microsoft cross-licensing deal mas signed, we speculated that it may have something to do with Mono, based on the langauage used in the press release.
These are all issues to be aware of.
In other Samsung news (among many others about mobile Linux), the company plans to also develop chips.
Samsung Electronics will update its mobile processor lineup with a new chip that combines a 667MHz processor core with hardware acceleration for multimedia, including 3D graphics and video, the company said.
As you can probably see, Samsung is focused on hardware, so it was both selfish and foolish of them to sign a software patent deal with Microsoft. They jeopardised people that write software rather than make hardware. █
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.