Nikon Buckles To Microsoft, Will Pay "Android Tax" For Smart Cameras 272
walterbyrd writes with news that Nikon is the latest company to agree to pay Microsoft for the privilege of using Android on its devices — as you might expect from Nikon, the devices in this case are cameras. (Microsoft's press release.)
Goodbye Nikon (Score:3, Interesting)
One less brand to ever appear on my shopping list.
Real target is not Android (Score:5, Interesting)
The real target of all this bullshit from Microsoft is the use of firmware with software other than what comes from Redmond, period. Face it Microsoft has been squeezed out of the embedded market largely because of the flexibility of OSS and the Linux kernel.
The best and only solution is for manufactures to turn on the bastards and stop using fat and ntfs period or charge more for devices that do.
This could easily be accomplished by providing a software tool with the cheaper devices to read write to Windows without the use of fat or ntfs. If Samsung, Nikon, Sony, Toshiba, Canon and all the other manufacturers got together and created a formatting tool for storage that they shared this could easily be accomplished.
Having one company dictate the format in which all portable storage devices read and write is the problem and the bastards in Redmond need to be held to task and given a full financial enema for a change.
Re:Confusing press release without context (Score:4, Interesting)
Why isn't Google sticking up for Android?
Re:Real target is not Android (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Oy Vey (Score:4, Interesting)
Moreover this is a friendly reminder for all those who think that the Xbox/Xbox 360 makes money: the royalties from mobile system patents are collected by the EDD, those, and not the Xbox, counterbalance the losses of Windows Phone.
Grow up, kid. (Score:5, Interesting)
You callin' this "extortion"? That's a big word, my friend. 'Round here we just call it biz niss.
Nikon is a big boy now and can take care of itself.
Founded in 1917 and a core component of the Japanese industrial cartel Mitsubishi.
You do know Mitsubishi? Employs 350,000 people? Rakes in about $350 Billion in revenues each year?
In a mature industry, all Android-related patents would be pooled, managed and cross-licensed to stabilize the business and the product.
No need to build your own customized portfolio. That hasn't happened yet and the geek won't like it when it does ---- any more than he likes the dominance of the MPEG LA pools in video compression.
Turnabout is fair play: DR-DOS (Score:4, Interesting)
even the original MS-DOS circa 1981 was at best a workalike knockoff of CP/M that they bought in from someone else
If Oracle beats Google on appeal, then DRDOS Inc. has a case against Microsoft. The maker of CP/M reworked CP/M-86 into DR-DOS.
Karma Bites Nikon (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:More like Nikon is the victim. (Score:5, Interesting)
>Help me understand - you are mad at the victim?
The problem with danegeld is that you never get rid of the Dane.
Paying off Microsoft is the absolutely wrong "solution" to this and only emboldens Microsoft. Microsoft can point at all these people paying danegeld and say "hey, you have to pay too."
It's why we all got mad at people who paid SCO for their extortion.
Fuck Microsoft, but also fuck Nikon for financing their extortion.
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BMO
Re:Goodbye Nikon (Score:5, Interesting)
Wow! Using your income as a tool for protest. You're so fucking cool! As if anyone gives a shit what you buy with your meager salary.
Wow! You're so fucking cool! Using /. posts to mock those who take a moral stand! As if anyone gives a shit about your apathy and lack of concern for matters of right and wrong.
People don't use their income as a tool for protest because they think they're going to change things. They do so because financially supporting unethical actions is unethical itself, whether the effect is great or small. Go back under your bridge.
Comment removed (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:More like Nikon is the victim. (Score:5, Interesting)
Nikon could skirt the patent by using EXT2/3 on their disks and include a driver for EXT2/3 for Windows and OSX. Because such things already exist. It's not like Windows users aren't used to installing drivers already.
But that makes too much sense.
Why device manufacturers insist on using VFAT and FAT64 boggles my mind.
This whole situation is just pure laziness, and a reason why people should point and laugh at Nikon for paying danegeld.
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BMO
Re:Time for Microsoft to be sued out of existence (Score:5, Interesting)
Who has Google extorted? (Score:4, Interesting)
I think Google buying Motorola was clearly a defensive move. Google was attempting to protect itself from the most vicious patent trolls, and scam artists in the business, namely Apple, Oracle, and Microsoft.
Who has Google extorted, and how?
Re:Hey buddy (Score:3, Interesting)
It's pretty widely known now that MS is extorting money almost exclusively for its ancient FAT filesystem patents.
It might be pretty widely known, but it is also pretty widely wrong. Microsoft has a massive portfolio of patents which can be used against Android, a lot of which is just useless user interface minutia. If you look at the bottom of the press release [talkandroid.com] it distinguishes between Android patents and exFAT patent agreements. You can see an example of the kind of the patents Microsoft use [talkandroid.com] from the various times they have had to list them publicly.
Also, it is not the ancient FAT filesystem that is patented (although Microsoft would like that), but the long filename extension to the filesystem (which is still pretty old) as well as exFAT (which was introduced in 2006). Nikon would probably need to use exFAT to work with SDXC memory cards.