Microsoft clears some fog over its new ecosystem
by Seth Rosenblatt
Microsoft takes on Siri with new Windows Phone update
Microsoft has shed some serious light on the future of Windows, with Windows Phone 8 and Surface tablet revelations this week burning away much of the uncertainty surrounding Windows and devices.
As expected, Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 will have tight integration with Windows 8. The intent is obvious, and frankly, a good idea: make it as easy as possible for you to move from one Microsoft device to another, no matter if you've got a phone, a tablet, a laptop, or a desktop.
For one thing, Internet Explorer 10 will be present on the new Windows Phones as well as Windows 8 and Windows RT. You may scoff at the idea of IE being a decent browser, but there's little doubt among people who pay close attention to browsers that Internet Explorer 10 is the most standards-compliant version of the browser yet, with competitive page-load times and expansive HTML5 support. Microsoft is also attempting to position IE10 on the side of the end-user by setting its Do No Track header to on by default, something no other browser maker has done yet. While it's true that there are defensible reasons for not doing it, it is unusual for Microsoft to take such an aggressive stance.
Microsoft plans to port IE10's strong security features to the phone version of the browser. Today, the company demonstrated that IE's online phishing detector and SmartScreen Filter will block many threats from reaching you, with notifications on the phone that look and feels like their desktop counterparts. As more people browse from a mobile device and expect the Web to behave the same on mobile as on a desktop, Web security on devices will take on much more significance.
Windows Phone and Windows 8 also sport matching wardrobes with their Start screens. They share those quadrilateral live tiles, instead of having traditional icons. Whether you resize them as squares or rectangles, the Start screen on Windows 8 will closely match the Start screen on Windows Phone 8.
There's a lot shared under the hood, too. Native code will be shared between Windows and Windows Phone 8. Networking stack, security model, media management, file system, graphics code, and more will be identical, thus streamlining app development among other benefits.
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Microsoft debuts 'Surface' for tablet crowd
As the operating systems blur and merge, so goes the new hardware that's been designed to showcase Windows and Windows Phone. We haven't seen much for either, but we do know that the Surface line of tablets, especially the heftier Windows 8 one powered by an Intel chip, will be much closer to an Ultrabook than current tablets are. We've seen hinged, ultrathin touch screen laptops at Computex that look like they could do serious business as tablets.
Microsoft is pushing manufacturers with stringent baseline specs and its own aggressive hardware designs in Surface to think differently about hardware, if you'll forgive the reference.
As with all things involving the word Windows and the number eight, these events answered some questions but left others hanging. One big question about Windows RT can now be asked of Windows Phone 8: What does this mean for third-party browsers? Will Android be the only mobile phone operating system that allows for full third-party browser integration?
Asa Dotzler, Director of Firefox for Mozilla, was reluctant to speculate on Windows Phone 8 and browsers. "Microsoft has not yet shared specific details on what Windows Phone 8's 'shared core' will offer for Windows developers," he said.
Windows 8 almost ready to serve
The issue of apps looms large, too. We know how the operating system itself will look and function. In the case of Windows 8, we've gotten hands-on time with it for months. It's made impressive strides since the February debut of the Consumer Preview. But an ecosystem without software or apps that people want to use might as well not exist. We don't know how Microsoft will entice developers to their new playground, and we obviously don't know if developers will find those enticements attractive enough.
So let's say that Microsoft pulls off this hat trick. In the fall, the company unleashes an ecosystem of devices, from desktop laptop to tablet to phone, that seamlessly communicate with each other, that has some killer must-have apps, and it's all competitively priced.
Let's even speculate that critics will like it. Maybe not all, but there will be enough critical acclaim that the curious and the die-hards will jump. We're still left with the biggest question of all: what will people think? Will they like it? And what happens to Microsoft if it bombs?
The risks associated with the new Windows ecosystem are enormous, and serious. In terms of success and public interest, are we looking at another Kin? Or is this more of an Xbox?
HP Leans on Linux for Gemini Moonshot Servers
Moonshot is all about engineering a new class of server architecture that delivers scale-out compute power while using less electrical power than traditional server infrastructure. The first Moonshot server debuted as the Redstone Server and was powered by ARM Cortex processors from Calxeda. The new generation is now being called Gemini, and the initial launch partner silicon is a new class of x86 Atom CPUs from Intel, called Centerton.
One of the initial launch partners with the Redstone platform is Canonical, the lead sponsor behind the Ubuntu Linux platform, and with Gemini, Linux once again is leading the way.
"HP has a number of operating system partners - Canonical and Red Hat, for example," Paul Santeler, vice president and general manager, Hyperscale Business Unit, Industry-standard Servers and Software at HP, told InternetNews. "Most of the workloads that are currently targeted are running on Linux or open source, but we are always working with additional partners for broader availability."
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Apple ordered to pay damages to Samsung by Dutch court
Apple has been ordered to pay damages to rival Samsung Electronics by a court in the Netherlands.
The court said that Apple had infringed a patent held by Samsung relating to the way phones and tablet PCs connect to the internet.
The court did not specify any amount, but the damages will be calculated based on sales of Apple's iPhone and iPad in the Netherlands.
The two firms are involved in a legal battle in various countries.
"Samsung welcomes the court's ruling, which reaffirmed Apple's free-riding of our technological innovation," the South Korean manufacturer said in an emailed statement to the BBC.
"In accordance with the ruling, we will seek adequate compensation for the damages Apple and its products have caused."
Judge grills Apple in Google smartphone case
A U.S. judge on Wednesday strongly questioned Apple Inc's bid for an injunction against Google Inc's Motorola Mobility unit, as the iPhone maker tries to salvage its position on a key front in the smartphone patent wars.
Federal Judge Richard Posner in Chicago did not make any formal rulings from the bench during the hearing, which was a chance for Apple to plead its case for an injunction against Motorola phones that allegedly use its technology. But Posner called the U.S. patent system "chaos" and said an order barring the sale of Motorola phones could have "catastrophic effects."
Posner earlier this month tentatively canceled an impending trial between the two technology companies, but scheduled the Wednesday hearing so Apple could argue for the injunction.
Apple has waged an international patent war since 2010 as part of its attempt to limit the growth of Google's Android system, the world's best-selling mobile operating platform. A decisive injunction in one of the U.S. legal cases could strengthen Apple's hand in negotiating cross-licensing deals, where companies agree to let each other use their patented technologies.
Opponents of Apple, meanwhile, say the iPhone and iPad maker is using patents too aggressively in its bid to stamp out the competition.
Motorola sued Apple in October 2010, a move widely seen as a preemptive strike. Apple filed its own lawsuit against Motorola the same month. Apple is also slated for trial against Samsung Electronics Co Ltd next month in California.
Posner issued a series of pretrial rulings that eliminated nearly all of Motorola's patent claims against Apple, while maintaining more of Apple's claims against Motorola. That meant Apple had more to gain at the trial, which had been set to start last week.
But Posner tentatively ruled that neither side could prove damages and scrapped the trial. An injunction would be "contrary to the public interest," Posner wrote.
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In court on Wednesday, Apple attorney Matthew Powers said it is not seeking an order barring the sale of Motorola phones. Rather, Apple would be satisfied with an injunction requiring Motorola to remove Apple's patented technology from Motorola phones within three months.
That outcome would ensure the Android phones do not share some of the same features as the iPhone, a differentiation that could help Apple in the marketplace. One of the patents at issue, for instance, covers technology to stream real time video without glitches or delays.
"It means we're not competing with them where they are using our technology against us," Powers said.
But Posner said it may be preferable to direct Motorola to pay Apple a compulsory royalty. Forcing Motorola to adopt inferior technology, as opposed to paying a royalty, would not benefit consumers, he said.
In addition, nothing would stop Apple from coming back into court after three months to claim Motorola is still infringing.
"That's all we need is new actions, new suits, because there's not enough litigation worldwide between Apple and Android," Posner said.
Motorola had also asked for an injunction on the one patent it is still asserting in the case against Apple. However, Motorola had pledged to license that patent - which covers an aspect of wireless communication - on fair and reasonable terms to other companies in exchange for having the technology be adopted as an industry standard.
"I don't see how you can have injunction against the use of a standard essential patent," Posner told Motorola's attorneys.
Overall, Posner questioned the worth of many software patents, noting deep systemic problems with the U.S. patent system.
"You can't just assume that because someone has a patent, he has some deep moral right to exclude everyone else" from using the technology, Posner said.
The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, is Apple Inc and NeXT Software Inc v. Motorola Inc and Motorola Mobility Inc, 11-cv-8540.
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