Posts by dotdavid 1712 publicly visible posts • joined 28 Jul 2010
Basically Microsoft asserts that Android violates some of its patents, but rather than duke it out in court with Google they've instead opted to put pressure on Android OEMs to sign patent licencing agreements, presumably threatening them with revokation of various discounts on other Microsoft software and whatnot as well as the threat of legal action.
They've been surprisingly successful, especially with manufacturers with one foot in the Microsoft camp like HTC. Of course Microsoft don't really want to go to trial as half the patents would probably be declared invalid and the rest probably not worth much, so it's in their interests to keep things the way they are - and this goes as far as not actually saying what the patents Android supposedly infringes actually are, and forcing patent licencees to not divulge them either as part of their licence agreement.
"Google has already discriminated against local companies developing their own Android-based operating systems by not sharing code with them in a timely manner, the paper claims, without naming companies."
Don't worry China, it's not just you - they don't let *anyone* see the source code for new Android versions until that new version has been released into the wild.
But I don't really see how much of a problem that is, considering that once they've done that you can pretty much do what you want with the source (assuming you're not an Android-certified OEM, as Acer discovered).
"Blocking these sites is a good first step towards freeing the internet from the tyranny of these pirates, but we all know who the real bad guys are. As the article put it, "workarounds can be easily found by anyone capable of using Google." Once we block this Google thing, then finally our Copyrights shall be safe for ever more."
Save us from manufacturer and operator app stores.
What will happen with Firefox OS and Ubuntu is what has happened to Android. The operators and manufacturers, in the mistaken belief that we actually give a pair of dingos' kidneys about their brands, will install an app store on their devices and everyone will just use the official Firefox/Ubuntu app store instead as it is cheaper to buy things from, better designed and/or they have more apps on it.
Some of the dumber manufacturers and operators will see that no-one is using their app store and decide that the solution to that problem is to make their app store the only app store on the device, and will therefore only sell to less technically-savvy customers who probably won't buy any apps anyway.
I used to think that eventually the operators and manufacturers would have to give up and focus on their core strengths of making decent hardware / providing a reliable dumb data pipe, but it seems that they're going to keep going round in circles with this "we want to own the platform" rubbish for the foreseeable future.
I suspect the mobile Firefox and Ubuntu operating systems will be ported to most Android handsets, although it might be a bit "unofficial" for most people.
Unfortunately I doubt that will change much - you and I might want this feature, but most people just want a phone that can do pocket computer stuff - not a pocket computer that they have to set up before they can use.
"Not paying for paid apps is theft"
Indeed, but the OP didn't say he was theiving - he might have been using Amazon's app store, as that company is a shining beacon of privacy good practice *cough* or one of the other legit Android markets.
"They could put her lovely toothless smile on Coke bottles as a warning like cigarettes. That will cut down consumption"
Why would it? Her photo only proves you can get like that when you drink 10 litres of the stuff a day, after all, which isn't the norm. It proves nothing about lesser consumption, so why should it discourage people who drink less?
I guess they're targeting people who aren't their customers (non licence fee payers), while simultaneously not understanding that they probably aren't customers because they don't want to pay a licence fee rather than because they can't get iPlayer programmes until after they've aired in the traditional manner.
RaspBMC is pretty fast and stable now, but as it is using the latest beta of XBMC it doesn't have a massive plugin support. The iPlayer plugin I tried crashes for example. But XBMC is a brilliant interface compared to some of the Android sticks'.
However I think the main advantage of the Android sticks is that Android has apps for services like Netflix and LoveFilm which as far as I know you can't get an XBMC plugin for.
Hopefully soon the Android XBMC port will work well enough on these things to give you the best of both worlds.
""Let's hope that Mickey Virus does not glamourise or trivialise hacking and malware creation too much," said Graham Cluley, senior security consultant at Sophos,"
Bah, he's just bitter that he has a boring desk job on the right side of the law, rather than a glamourous lifestyle on the run as a l33t h4x0r, hacking the gibson from a late night bar/rollerdisco/arcade (not from home, of course) in the company of Angelina.
"leaving network operators in the impossible position of being unable to raise prices against rising costs"
Funny that - I am similarly unable to reduce my mobile-related contractual obligations against similarly rising costs. How terribly sad I am to hear the operators might have to take the potential for such cost rises into account when agreeing to contracts! It's so unfair that they might be exposed to that risk like the rest of us are, the poor dears.
A shame the EU investigation seems to only be about using FRAND patents (rather than frivilous patents in general) to get import bans as a trade tool.
It's a bit like the police seeing a bunch of getaway cars whose passengers have just robbed a bank, chasing and catching up with them, and then giving just one of them a speeding ticket while letting the rest off.
"The bargain-basement airline appeared to perform badly across the board, but slightly worse in its functionality, travel options available and choice of flights on offer. The biz was not available for comment at time of writing."
Admit it, they tried to charge you a £5 "comment processing fee" didn't they...
Shame these Smart TVs' updates tend to not be issued by the manufacturers that long. One or two updates are the norm, if you're lucky, and if there's a security vulnerability after that - tough. You don't even get an Android-style enthusiast community to provide ongoing software updates because all the software is proprietary rubbish.
This problem will only get worse.
"You're not paying for the OS, remember that it is open source and free. Fix it yourself"
Perhaps an obvious troll, but while Android may be free the kernel drivers may not be, and even if they are by default Samsung do not allow you to install custom firmware on your phone.
phe·nom·e·non/fəˈnäməˌnän/
Noun
1.A fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen, esp. one whose cause is in question.
2.A remarkable person or thing.
Phenomenal? I agree - I think it is quite remarkable they've sold any copies of Windows 8 at all.
Doesn't mean to say they've sold many copies...
"Storm in a teacup that probably only a few percent of people genuinely cared about"
Obviously an anecdote doesn't equal proof, but the number of non-techy (and, well, techy) mates I've heard mention Apple Maps being broken, and discussing alternatives either to the maps app or to the iPhone, would suggest otherwise.
In fact Google have probably saved a big chunk of Apple's iPhone-selling business by releasing this, and relatively promptly considering they supposedly only knew Google Maps was getting dumped from IOS when everyone else did.
Actually it turns out the physical costs of producing a book (binding, printing, distribution etc) are quite cheap compared to the cost of writing the things, editing them and whatnot.
As ebooks still have the latter costs, I can kind of understand how they're not massively cheaper, although I would still expect them to be slightly cheaper (idiotic VAT aside).
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