TomTom vs Microsoft… Round 2

The Microsoft vs TomTom spat has taken a twist that I doubt Microsoft expected. I am sure Microsoft assumed TomTom would buckle under the pressure of a costly legal battle and pay the patent protection fees Microsoft tried to extract from them Earlier in the year. This has not happened.

TomTom first counter was to fire some Patents it holds on in car systems that it believe catch Microsoft. The HUGE gun they pulled out after that is a real game changer. TomTom joined the Open Invention Network.

Microsoft has being trying to claim the TomTom action has nothing to do with Linux to avoid pulling in OIN. This is a simple lie though as TomTom use the standard Linux + DOS libraries in their SatNav.

For TomTom the cost of joining the OIN is making their patents available to the FLOSS community for free. The benefits they gain are use of the full OIN patent war cache in defence and muscle that backs it.

OIN member including the likes of IBM, Sony, Philips, RedHat, NEC and ironically Novell.

This case has now grown far beyond the David vs Goliath fight around the edge of the Linux community into a centre stage standoff of Patent super powers.

The ball is now with Microsoft.

Can they risk a fight with the OIN. I doubt it but who knows in the current climate. Time to sit back and watch the fireworks

Microsoft + DOS + Tom Tom = !Mono

I spend most of my working day programming C# in Visual Studio 2008. It is a great platform for Windows based development so when I made the move to Linux at home it made sense to look at Mono as a development environment for that platform.

The core of .NET is an ISO standard so in theory should be safe to use and since the backlash through the Open Source community over the Microsoft/Novell deal it did appear Microsoft was trying to play better with the Open Source.

Notice the “did” in that last sentence!

At the end of last week Microsoft showed it’s true colours and took it’s first real patent snipe at Linux over a very questionable FAT related patent on long file names.

Microsoft are far too scared to take on Linux directly. The threat of the patent cache held by the Open Source Initiative, backed by the likes of IBM, could cause serious damage to Microsoft if pushed too hard. A direct attack also risks them having to defend the patent in court, a massive risk after a few recent rulings against software patents as they could lose this lucrative patent.

Instead they have taken the easier route of attacking a small company, Tom Tom, which they know don’t have the funds to mount a defence. This allows them to link Linux with patent infringement in the media with little risk to their own software patent cache.

The patents in question relate to long file names in DOS, which is only able to deal with 8.3 based file names. The patents detail an obvious and a simple hash system for storing and mapping long file names to the DOS short file names.

Why does this matter to Linux?

FAT is the most common file format used on all Flash based storage, such as memory cards. If you want your Linux box to read your phone or camera memory cards you need to interact with DOS. This is another play by Microsoft to raise the cost of Linux distributions from $0, a price they are unable to compete with.

How does Mono fit into all this. In a sense it doesn’t. The only connection is Microsoft, the CONVICTED monopolist! But that c0nnection is enough to make me realise I should not be using the likes of Mono under Linux. What patent traps are buried in Mono waiting for the time that makes the direct attack on Linux a worth while move for Microsoft.

If you are thinking of using Mono in a Linux project then think hard and long. Do you really want to give Microsoft another attack vector?