On: Barnes & Noble Exposes Microsoft's Trivial Patent...

[jimbobimbo]

Not defending the patent for FAT - nobody prohibits device OEMs shipping a piece of software that manages data on the device without requiring the FAT to be present.

[rbanffy → jimbobimbo]

Those devices will offer a more complicated experience because they have to do something Microsoft doesn't have to because they have the desktop OS monopoly creating a competitive burden to everyone else. Looks like leveraging a monopoly on one market to gain advantages on another to me, even if it is a subtle way.

All they have to do to leverage their desktop-related monopolies is to sit tight and do nothing. And that's why it's really bad.

[jimbobimbo → rbanffy]

It worked out for Apple/iTunes just fine. I don't like this approach (and do not buy i-devices for that reason), but it is quite viable if executed right.

[rbanffy → jimbobimbo]

Before the iPhone, every iPod used on PCs had to be formatted with FAT, so it's fair to say it didn't work until iTunes had a critical mass.

If it's hard for Apple, you can imagine it's much harder for everyone else.