Week in review: Microsoft's patent offensive

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Confirming news already leaked on its Web site, Microsoft also announced Windows Server 2008 as the official name of Windows Server "Longhorn," which is due to be finalized later this year. In announcing the Windows Server 2008 moniker, Gates poked a little fun at his company's penchant for less-than-dynamic product names.

Microsoft said the follow-on to its Windows Server 2008 operating system will be an interim release due to arrive in 2009. The software maker offered few details on Windows Server 2008 R2, other than to say the interim update will be offered only in a 64-bit version.

"We're thinking about what we'll do next," Windows Server general manager Bill Laing said. The plan sticks to one laid out by server and tools unit boss Bob Muglia some time ago that calls for the server unit to release a major version of its operating system every four years and a more minor release every two years.

The initial Windows Server 2008 release, due to be finalized late this year, will be offered in 32-bit and 64-bit versions, though Laing said it will be the last server operating system to come in a 32-bit version.

Although businesses will have the option to install only certain pieces of Windows Server 2008, Microsoft isn't likely to sell the operating system in a piecemeal fashion. The company has been touting the ability of the new server OS to be configured for certain functions, or "roles," such as Web server or directory server. Such an approach has a number of benefits, chief among them being a reduced footprint for potential attacks.

But limiting a server to a particular role isn't likely to result in a smaller bill from Microsoft. In an interview, Laing said Microsoft expects to sell Windows Server 2008 in much the same way it has previous releases, with the pricing varying mainly on the type of business use.

The song remains to blame
Amazon.com plans to launch a digital-music store later this year, featuring music downloads without copyright restrictions. The e-tailer plans to offer songs from more than 12,000 record labels in the MP3 format, without the controversial digital rights management (DRM) software. Users will be able to play their music on virtually any device, including PCs, iPods, Zunes and Zens, as well as burn the songs onto CDs for personal use.

In making the announcement, Amazon also noted that it has teamed up with EMI Music to offer songs from its digital catalog. As part of its digital-music store, Amazon will offer EMI's new, premium DRM-free downloads. Amazon said it would announce pricing details closer to the launch date.

The music industry--struggling with one of its worst-ever sales slumps--will be closely watching how Amazon and Apple, which also offers DRM-free downloads, fare. If they are successful in moving a lot of songs, then that might convince the other three major record companies to strip DRM from their music. If sales are lackluster, then that might spur the labels to wrap songs in even tighter copy protection, industry insiders say.

Sales of traditional CDs are in a free fall. The industry reported a 17 percent decline in album sales so far this year. Ipsos Insight, a Chicago-based market research firm, issued a report recently that showed a 15 percent drop from 2002 in the number of U.S. consumers who had bought a CD within the past six months.

Meanwhile, some of the staunchest advocates for stricter copyright laws have formed a new alliance designed to pressure Congress into preserving stronger intellectual-property rights. The Copyright Alliance consists of 29 national organizations and companies that purport to represent 11 million workers in copyright-related industries. Those members include the Recording Industry Association of America, the Association of American Publishers, the Motion Picture Association of America, Microsoft, Viacom and Walt Disney.

Also of note
Dell has been accused of making false promises to customers to drive sales, according to a lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo...The filing comes as Dell expands its sales strategy to support a major push in commercial reseller and retail channels...In its biggest revamp ever to its home page, Google launched its version of universal search, a redesign that will list in one place search results from a variety of media...Apple has updated its MacBook laptops with faster processors, more memory and more hard-drive space...Motorola introduced the follow-up to the popular ultrathin Razr--an even thinner phone called the Razr2.

[DMAN3k]

No legal action

Even though M$ did point out the patent infringements, didn't M$ also admitted that they were not going to take legal action? Or did I read it wrong, or did M$ changed their minds?

[uqlue]

Catch me if you can

Did Gates actually taunt the industry to find out who would fight his illegal crusade?

Linux has already survived the SCO wars and Novell was more than happy to shut SCO up.

Just because MS has "access" to the Novell Patents doesnt give them the right to threaten lawsuits.

I hearby proclaim to Gates and his Trolls: I own a Linux OS system and refuse to take cover from your lawsuits.

[erixgirl86]

Beating Out the Competition

All they're doing is trying to get rid of competition, linux is free, Microsoft isn't. Microsoft is going to lose money if people go with linux, which I doubt will happen too soon because it's a bit complex for some. This Whole "Patent War" needs to stop. All it's over is money and trying to get rid of competition. It's time Consumers showed them all who's boss and just boycotted they're a$$es.

[Christofer1976]

How is it offensive?

I don't see how it's offensive, it's just a company protecting it's Property.
The main problem is that Patents are given out for almost any stupid idea.
It's about time the MS lawyer starts doing his job hahah :)
Why doesn't Apple bring out one of these agains MS? coz most people say they copied everything of theirs regarding the OS.

[Fil0403]

Why doesn't Apple bring out one of these against MS?

Because even though most people say they copied everything of theirs regarding the OS, it's pure BS and the fact that Apple doesn't sue Microsoft is proof of that.
But I bet if they would, patents would all of the sudden make all sense and Apple would just be doing its job, unlike Microsoft who is just being stupid, according to ABMs (Anything But Microsofts).

[t8]

Retaliation

I would like to see someone take MS to court over this. They say things to create FUD and the retaliation to that should be that someone like the FSF take them on with this.

If the Open Source community actually fight back, then MS would think twice before spreading FUD and a court case will help promote the Open Source movement and make people think twice about using MS. Imagine the press that Open Source would get?

The Open Source community need to fight back because this is truly a war and Microsoft will just continue to spread lies about Open Source if they just roll over and take it.

Open Source has many patents too, including IBM's arsenal of patents, so it's not like they are defenseless. Bring out the big guns I say.

Come on let see some retaliation.

[Commander_Spock]

What...

... classification do you have for the size of "gun" that is the now Open Sourced "Journaled File System" (JFS) from IBM that was "borrowed" from OS/2 through AIX and now integrated into Linux!

[dornbear]

Microsoft - Bad For The US On All Fronts?

Microsoft's behavior is producing more Microsoft enemies, because they don't play fair. I can envision many, many users switching to Linux, even if it is a little less user friendly, just because they don't want to have anything to do with Microsoft.

Consider this argument: Computers are becoming so widespread and pervasive in our economy that operating systems should be considered languages - (like a speaking language). Language should be free.

Now, Another big topic for Microsoft

I cannot see US programmer/analysts liking Microsoft much, either - they seem to be one of the biggest contributors to offshoring high tech jobs (directly and indirectly) and depressing or flattening US wages for the remaining jobs.

Check out the recent Washington Post article by economist Alan S. Blinder called "Free Trade's Great, but Offshoring Rattles Me", May 6, 2007. He believes "offshoring may be the biggest political issue in economics for a generation." He says "Our unemployment insurance is stingy by first-world standards. American workers who lose their jobs often lose their health insurance and pension rights as well. And even though many displaced workers will have to change occupations - a difficult task for anyone - only a fortunate few will be offered opportunities for retraining. All this needs to change"

And Blinder in his article, Blinder doesn't even mention the H-1B visas that are being used to streamline the offshoring process, and that have caused the depression/flattening of IT wages here in the US. (these are the visas that are supposedly only to attract "the best and brightest" because we have such a shortage of high tech workers) Bill Gates has been pushing hard to get the H-1B visa quota increased to take even more American jobs away, now even faster.

The scarey part - Has there been any kind of study to try and determine exactly what impact all this offshoring will have on Americans, and the following waves of repercussions that will be felt in our communities? Add that to weak immigration policy...

When I tried to research IT layoffs to size up the situation how many, where, etc, I found the information I was looking for was not out there - I was looking for a count of layoffs of a particular job type in the IT industry that you might study for specifically. The labor information is not that specific - not anywhere near that specific. (If anyone out there knows where the data is, please correct me, and I apologize) How do I figure out what job is safe, at least for while?.

With all the "fast track" trade agreements, all the offshoring, foreign worker visas, rise in immigration (NumbersUSA.com), creating such huge changes in the job supply / labor supply ratio, the availability of jobs (with living wages) and wages being paid are shifting downward. Would'nt we want to be able to track trends more closely?

I hope this issue gets more attention, gets studied, because with the offshoring of high tech service jobs, those affected are people who invest a lot of time and money to prepare for their specific career... And because careers are getting more specific in nature, transitioning to a new high tech career becomes difficult without a lot of new training, and then you are taking your chances. Many fall back career options are not financially workable. A formula for personal financial disaster.

As more and more high tech service careers are offshored, the trend will only increase. In my state of CT, a CCCS Consumer Credit Counseling Service representative says the largest group of people seeking counseling, come in because of job loss.

The immigration / foreign visa worker is on the Senate agenda right now - I hope you talk to your Senator about it.