Re:Google: Microsoft uses patents when products "stop succee...
by nitrogen on Monday November 07, 2011 @02:31AM
(#3205361)
Or to ask in yet another slightly different way: what are we missing now, what's been taken away from us, because of software patents?
Just a few random examples; no doubt there are more:
1. Encumbrance-free implementations of popular audio and video codecs.
2. Long filename support on FAT32 on embedded Linux devices (or the associated royalty to Microsoft).
3. Multitouch gestures on Android, at least initially.
4. A gallery app on Samsung devices in the Netherlands that shows neighboring pictures in an image sequence when sliding between images.
5. Early clones of the game The Incredible Machine.
6. Probably countless other ideas that people never bothered to try because they knew that some big company had already patented the life out of a particular sector.
Just a few random examples; no doubt there are more:
1. Encumbrance-free implementations of popular audio and video codecs.
2. Long filename support on FAT32 on embedded Linux devices (or the associated royalty to Microsoft).
3. Multitouch gestures on Android, at least initially.
4. A gallery app on Samsung devices in the Netherlands that shows neighboring pictures in an image sequence when sliding between images.
5. Early clones of the game The Incredible Machine.
6. Probably countless other ideas that people never bothered to try because they knew that some big company had already patented the life out of a particular sector.