Microsoft to own every GPU?

[Saem]

Darkblu,

I agree with you wholeheartedly.

The US patent system is flawed when addressing the concerns of innovation. In a few years there will be so many patents and barriers of entry in all sorts of industries will be so high, there will HOPEFULLY be a big reform.

Further more, the US follows the letter of the law and not the spirit and thus this stuff is allowed to happen. If there was a simple shift of philosophy a lot of this wouldn't fly, since the spirit of the law dictates that one must push for innovation and if someone is roadblocking a better product with patents they courts would simply change that.

No, its called business.

Might doesn't make right. So, this is DIRTY. Just because it's lawful, doesn't make it ethical. Finance/business laws in the US are hardly enforced in a manner were one could consider it a function of ethics or in serving Justice. It is merely and institution to keep order.

But enough about the US, it's not perfect, I don't think any country is. As for MS, they've been abusive before, they're likely using this to shutdown OpenGL. I believe they'll use this like their other assets to force the industry the way they want it. But I'm sure this comment will recieve many, "oh, you're just an MS hater". Regardless, their products are a delivery system for their grand designs and thus they carry the baggage that MS generates.

 

[Dave B(TotalVR)]

They cant possibly patent that!

Somebody needs to fucking shoot bill gates in the head (pardon my french)

Jesus, I wonder what else they are going to try and steal ownership of next, sound cards? network cards?

So how much do you reckon microsoft are going to make all 3D companies pay them?

 

[Rancidm]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=73&ncid=73&e=7&u=/zd/20020712/tc_zd/943111

http://www.overclockers.com/tips056/

MS has gone too far this time...

 

[V3]

That patent, seems to be implementation base, why is MS going after OpenGL ? I always thought OpenGL only dictates the specification and implementations are open to vendor.

If MS doesn't charge for DirectX but start charging for OpenGL, this is like Netscape and IE all over again.

Perhaps soon enough MS going to start charging for Windows development.

 

[Sonic]

GPU huh? Microsoft trying to use its new patent to wreak havoc through the graphics card industry? This is funny, Microsoft is in way over their head as far as this concerns. Don't be too surprised if a Linux based OS gives Windows some serious competition in the desktop market. It may very well be possible that AMD and Intel would decide to advocate a new OS other than Windows. For some reason I see in the next 5 years alot of companies saying no to Microsoft and eventually just leading the company astray. MS is far too successful and it clearly uses business tactics that shouldn't be allowed. IBM, where are you when we need you the most?

Sonic

PS - Who has patents for the videogame system?

 

[BenSkywalker]

Sounds to me like MS wants something in OpenGL they can't get, and they want it licensed to them free of charge for cross licensing this patent. They have never been very agressive with enforcements of their IPs, and there will not be a mass exodus from the Windows platform. 95% of the PC users in the world don't care about OpenGL nor an alternative OS. Has it reached the point where people jump to the automatic conclusion that MS is trying to destroy anything they want to get involved with?

 

[Bogotron]

All these claims of wild and excessive patents brings back memories of the Nvidia vs 3dfx lawsuits. If I remember correctly, wasn't it 3dfx that got a patent for "hardware-thingy that combines two numerical inputs to one numerical output" or words to that effect? If that isn't a sweeping generalization of dualtexturing then I don't know what is.

As people who deal with the patent system on this board have stated before, patent lawyers do their best to expand the reach of each and any patent the send through the system. That is just the way it works. The poor people set to evaluate and approve patents rarely know the scope of their actions, so things like this happen all the time. Microsoft might have a patent for more or less anything, but will it hold up in court? That is the relevant question. If all parties know that MS will fall flat on it's face if they go to court, they don't have much leverage even with an "ironclad patent".