Microsoft Patent: More Money for Less Functions
With U.S. Patent 7,536,726, Microsoft has been granted a patent with which they hope to make a successful business model out of a potentially severely restricted operating system.
Under the title "Restricted software and hardware usage on a computer," the U.S. Patent Office granted Microsoft innovative invention status on May 19, 2009 for their resourceful business idea. Microsoft had filed the patent in 2005 and now the ideas of its coworkers Joachim Kempin, Carl Gulledge, Edward Stubbs and others were finally considered worthy. The patent text, in all its arcane language, gets to the bottom line of a concept not totally unfamiliar to Microsoft: make selected portions and functionality of the operating system unavailable to users or limit their ability to add software applications or device drivers until an "agreed upon sum of money" is paid to "'unlock' or otherwise make available the restricted functionality." The patent seekers see this as a safeguard against the following situation: "One problem inherent in open architecture systems is they are generally licensed with complete use rights and/or functionality that may be beyond the need or desire of the system purchaser... [so that] users with limited needs pay the same rate for these systems as those with universal needs."
So Microsoft has a remedy based on a brilliant idea. The "Summary of the Invention" section of the patent statement provides a scenario: "a consumer initially purchases a computer with restricted functionality at a price that is less than the price that would be charged for a computer with full functionality. Subsequently, the user can, at an additional cost, acquire a digital key that allows the restrictions to be removed, upgrading the computer to full functionality." The Microsoft co-inventors see revenue in it: for a few dollars more a new digital signature will open up further applications and drivers. The hardware maker (read "OEM"), under an agreement with Redmond, can thus determine what apps or drivers to switch on or off based on what users pay. The trick: it will cost the user even just to peek at the OEM's digest catalog of available programs. Also, "the consumer can be given a limited amount of time (e.g., one month or one year) within which he or she can access the OEM's digest catalog."
There's further rationale Microsoft has to provide crippled functionality: "An additional problem with open architecture systems is that virtually anyone can write an application that can be executed on the system." Microsoft will need to work hard to get the extra revenue they seek with this solution. Apparently unfazed by the millions of dollars paid in fines to the European Commission on antitrust charges, they're looking for help in their endeavor. Their conclusion in the patent write-up: "Thus, it would be beneficial to provide a way for the manufacturer of the system to control the extensibility of the system."
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This will not work.
MS did a great job to bring computers to the masses but now hey want to monopolize all computers and it will not work - it is proven that monopolies do not work. This will be among their worst most recent mistakes apart from Vista. We'll see.
It would fail in the marketplace
Heck, businesses have already boycotted Vista by refusing to purchase it. The same would happen if Ms tries to implement this "idea".
Personally, I hope MS tries it, it would be their biggest mistake and it would precipitate a mass migration to Linux.
Bilski - USPTO=Big Fail
Patenting an idea (Gee, I thought about it first in 199x) without implementation. This goes beyond being ludicrous, that is, even if you ignore prior art. As kids we used to call it 'Fantasy' or 'Role Playing' (Hollywood's strengths).
Limiting multi-boot
Even More Prior Art
Later CDC realised that it was cheaper to build the drives with all the platters in place and disable one or two platters for customers who only needed smaller drives. Customers who bought upgrades for the later drives paid for a service engineer to come on site and move a couple of jumpers or flip a couple of switches to enable the extra paltters.
The Desktop makes it
2. The more Linux is used, and there are many good reasons for the hardware producers to become more independent from MS, the more drivers/software will Linux see and the more hardware will just run like today for Windows. This will have a pull effect on users to be happy with Linux other than it was with the netbooks. The first round in this case went to MS but "one lost battle is not a lost war" (Napoleon Bonaparte).
Cheers
Yet another piece of prior art
Most of these restrictions can be overcome by installing Linux, but that also normally requires the user to pay a fee - either the cost of an Internet connection for a period of time, or the cost of some physical storage medium. This fee is relatively small, but it looks like the patent attempts to cover small as well as large fees.
Astonishing - prior art abounds
software hooks
Only In Windows?
If Microsoft makes a deal with the hardware maker they can control what hardware you can use. I can imagine there also could be some software "hooks" that can control witch software can use what hardware. Yes - the BIOS would grow in size, but that's no problem these days...
Starting to see the picture?
MS derails itself, way to go down the slope!
I don't think Microsoft will try to go this way, though they're welcome to kill themselves this way.
re that fantastic patent
Prior Art
Are you kidding me???
Heck, even some of the netbooks sold by cellular companies give the companies the option to brick the hardware if the user doesn't keep up with their monthly installments.
Sheesh!
old news
Enjoy.
Have had this a long time ...
This Is Not Original
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/O...IOS_CORE:_core_BIOS_protection
Cool. Always wanted a way to pay more for something I can get for free. Thanks.