Foxconn Signs Massive Android Patent Agreement With Microsoft 168
Pikoro writes with news that Foxconn's parent company has entered into an agreement to pay Microsoft royalties for every Android device they manufacture, joining a rather long list of companies licensing patents for Android/Linux from Microsoft. From the BBC: "Microsoft has secured a patent deal with the world's biggest consumer electronics manufacturer to receive fees for devices powered by Google's Android and Chrome operating systems. Hon Hai — the parent company of Foxconn — said the deal would help prevent its clients being caught up in an ongoing intellectual property dispute. Microsoft says that Google's code makes use of innovations it owns. Google alleges its rival's claims are based on 'bogus patents.' 'The patents at issue cover a range of functionality embodied in Android devices that are essential to the user experience, including: natural ways of interacting with devices by tabbing through various screens to find the information they need; surfing the web more quickly, and interacting with documents and e-books.'"
This is GREAT NEWS (Score:0, Interesting)
Our own capitalist masters in America maintain their superirority over the upstart bourgeoisie of Taiwan! Horay for the American bourgeoisie! Get ready for world war III! Profits! Profits! Profits!
Re:Google challenge (Score:2, Interesting)
Because they're not paying. Therefore they couldn't care less.
Re:Google challenge (Score:5, Interesting)
Foxconn doesn't make Android devices (Score:4, Interesting)
Bogus deal, Foxconn only makes the hardware not the device. It's a contract manufacturer. This will cover only devices Hon Hai make for itself which presumably why the strange wording of the press release, talking about HonHai while implying it covers Foxconn's contract manufacturing.
"While the contents of the agreement are confidential, the parties indicate that Microsoft will receive royalties from Hon Hai under the agreement."
Hon hai is not Foxconn, as I said Foxconn is a contract manufacturer, it competes with everyone else to manufacture devices. If they tried to add a fee, they'd simply price themselves out of the market, Hon Hai on the other hand does make a few devices, and this cover those.
Hon Hai also are fools to pay the Danegeld because Microsoft has a lot of these fluff troll patents and has donated many to 'independent' third party trolls. Sooner or later the next troll will demand money, and the next and the next.
Apple OEM licenses Android patents from Microsoft (Score:3, Interesting)
This is brilliant. Company that mainly makes Apple products will license "Android patents" from Microsoft. ... except it doesnt make any, it makes Apple devices.
Lets rephrase that. Microsoft hates Android, Apple hates Android, Apple tells its biggest client "go fetch". Foxconn does what its being told and promises to pay for something that doesnt exist and doesnt belong to a person it is giving money to. Whats more it will pay for every Android device it makes
Its an equivalent of Nokia licensing imaginary Android patents from Microsoft ... oh wait, Nokia DID license those too haha. Whats next? Dell licensing those patents? HP? Maybe Lexmark or Adobe? or Procter & Gamble?
Re:wince (Score:3, Interesting)
WinCE stalled at 5.x and was superceded by Windows Mobile (WinMo).
WinMo ended at 6.5.3. It has not yet been functionally replaced, but it is no longer actively developed.
Windows Phone 7 is NOT WinMo. Oddly enough, WinPhone 7.5 isn't WinPhone 7, and WinPhone 8 isn't WinPhone 7.5 either. They just keep breaking it. The mind boggles.
I'm not sure what they're going to do about WinMo 6.5.3. It's used on a metric crap-ton of devices that businesses rely on, but the latest development environment that works with it is the aging Visual Studio 2008. The latest .Net framework is Compact Framework (.NetCF) 3.5. If you want to see what happens when an operating system release gets well and truly "stuck" on an old version, look no further. Nobody is making WinPhone 7-8 software. Businesses are still actively developing WinMo 6.5.3 software with an old IDE. When they EOL .Net 3.5, they're going to have a huge problem on their hands. Barcode scanners aren't going to be replaced with ones running the vastly-inferior-for-the-task WinPhone operating system. And .NetCF stopped at 3.5 for WinMo. Microsoft is screwing the proverbial pooch here.
In my day-job, I'm a .Net developer. I build and maintain a system consisting of several types of software (web apps, Winforms apps, SOAP services, WCF services, libraries, CLI apps, and a WinMo app, and all using a massive SQL Server database with reporting services, a.k.a. SSRS) all working together to run a company's main data services. All of these are in VS2010, except for the WinMo app and the SSRS report templates, which are in VS2008. All of them use .Net 3.5 SP1. Upgrades aren't out of the question, and in fact would be welcomed. But Microsoft isn't providing them. You'd think they'd want heavy users on an "upgrade treadmill", but they're not bothering with it. It's really quite odd. At this point, there's a huge demand for them to start that "treadmill" in this market and they just won't do it.
The only answer is to fire Ballmer. (Out of a cannon, if necessary. He is a clown, after all.)