Corporate and legal

While reaction to Microsoft's settlement with TomTom was varied on Monday, there seemed to be a consensus that it will do little to settle the many questions related to whether Linux infringes on Microsoft's intellectual property.

Attorney James Gatto, the leader of the intellectual property section at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, said the quick settlement in the case may have as much to do with a pragmatic business decision by TomTom as it does with the legal merits of Microsoft's case. Complex litigation, such as the patent suit and countersuit in this case, could easily add up to $10 million to $15 million in costs, Gatto said.

"I don't think this answers any questions in terms of whether Microsoft's patents in any way cover Linux," Gatto said. Microsoft has long asserted that various implementations of Linux do infringe on its intellectual property and has struck a number of patent deals with companies that either distribute Linux or use it in their products.

The TomTom case, however, marked the first time that Microsoft had made those allegations in court papers.

Open-source pioneer Bruce Perens criticized the settlement, saying that it may instill fear in other companies that are using embedded Linux and thus have something of a chilling effect.

"What strikes me is the un-justice of it all," said Perens, who is the chief executive of open-source software development company Kiloboot. "Microsoft's patents (in the TomTom case) are not innovative, yet TomTom is forced to pay for the patents when a court would probably find them invalid. But rather than spend the money to prove the patents are invalid, because they probably can't afford to go to court and fight it, TomTom licenses the patents."

Gatto said that Microsoft's TomTom move doesn't necessarily mean the company is ready to go to war with Linux. … Read more

Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei Technologies announced Monday that it will provide wireless equipment to cable operator Cox Communications, which is building its own 3G cell phone network.

Cox, the third largest cable provider in the U.S., is using the $300 million worth of spectrum it bought in last year's Federal Communications Commission's auction to build the network. The company also plans to resell Sprint Nextel wireless service. The service is expected to launch later this year.

Huawei is providing the CDMA equipment to build the network, which the company says will be upgradeable to the 4G … Read more

Correction: This post previously misstated the location of Western Digital's headquarters.

Western Digital on Monday announced it has acquired solid-state drive maker SiliconSystems for $65 million.

The purchase will provide the current market leader in 2.5-inch drives with a way into the growing SSD market. Based in Aliso Viejo, Calif., SiliconSystems was established in 2002, and makes SSD products for communications, industrial, embedded systems, medical, military, and aerospace applications. SiliconSystems' product lineup includes SSDs with a variety of interfaces, including SATA, EIDE, PC Card, USB, and CF, in 2.5-inch, 1.8-inch, and CF.

The Lake Forest, Calif.… Read more

Microsoft and TomTom have reached a settlement in their respective patent suits, the companies said Monday.

As part of the deal, as TomTom will pay Microsoft for patent protection related to mapping patents and file-management patents that Microsoft claimed were infringed by TomTom's use of the Linux kernel. Microsoft will also get access to the TomTom patents that were cited in TomTom's countersuit against Microsoft, although Microsoft won't make any payment to TomTom.

In a statement, the two companies said that the settlement provides TomTom patent coverage "in a manner that is fully compliant with TomTom'… Read more

News Corp. is about to hire former AOL Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Miller to head up the media conglomerate's digital initiatives, replacing Peter Levinsohn, according several news reports, including two on News Corp.-owned publications.

Miller's new job would oversee all online operations including the popular MySpace social-networking site as well as the company's investment in the also popular Hulu video site, according to a report late Friday on The Wall Street Journal.

In her Boomtown blog on the All Thing Digital Web site, Kara Swisher further explained Friday night that Miller is still bound by a … Read more

Verizon Wireless has confirmed earlier reports that it's ready to enter the Netbook market. Spokeswoman Brenda Raney, who was quoted to a similar effect in an Internetnews.com story Friday, said Saturday that the plan is for the company to start selling 3G-enabled Netbooks by the end of the second quarter, or by June.

Unfortunately, Raney could offer little else in the way of details regarding pricing or potential PC partners. Crave's Erica Ogg suggested Dell would be an obvious partnering candidate. Dell already has a relationship with Verizon parent company Vodafone, which has sold Dell Netbooks in … Read more

Cloud computing is the first major IT market disruption that has taken place in the world of open source software, "the wisdom of crowds" and the community collaboration revolution of Web 2.0. The concept of the cloud is trying to grow and evolve in an atmosphere in which technologists expect input on the technology they are being asked to rely on, and IT management expects input on the strategies they are being asked to adopt.

Never has that fact been more evident then in the events that have taken place over the last two days. The leaking of the Open Cloud Manifesto … Read more

These days, everyone's a gamer. If not a traditionalist firing away at bad guys through a high-end video game console and large TV, he or she might just be in an ongoing Scrabble duel with a Facebook friend or hooked on an addictive iPhone game like ReMovem.

Nowhere was this notion of the mainstreaming of gaming more pronounced than at this week's Game Developers Conference, the massive gathering of which some consider all the more critical to the industry this year, given market forces. Sure, the video game industry is growing and some say it's even recession-resistant, … Read more

Some broadband users are considering going back to dial-up as the tough economic climate forces them to cut their household budgets, according to a story published Friday in the Chicago Tribune.

While it's unlikely Americans will ditch broadband for dial-up en masse, there are likely to be some people who find the $20 to $50 monthly fees for DSL or cable modem broadband service to be too high, when dial-up providers such as NetZero are offering new $9.95 service plans.

One Florida man, Arnold Zimmerman, 66, said that after his work hours got reduced and his stock portfolio … Read more