12-04-2003, 10:00 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Microsoft Issues FAT Tax - Time to Diet!
I found this over at dpreview, and it impact all of us who use Flash memory cards in our Pocket PCs and Smartphones:
"Microsoft will soon be charging manufacturers of flash memory card devices and those which use them $0.25 per unit or up to $250,000 to use the FAT filesystem. For those who are unaware the FAT file system was developed by Microsoft back in 1976 and has become the standard file system for all digital still cameras. Microsoft owns patents to the FAT File System but for many years hasn't even hinted that it may one day decide to charge for it. These new licenses appear to come into effect immediately and specifically make mention of 'compact flash memory cards' and 'portable digital still cameras'. What a great way for Microsoft to cash in on the most popular consumer products (as if they don't make enough money already)."
Phil Askey notes that the solution might be as simple as not formatting the cards before sending them - I wonder if that would work? I also wonder about FAT32 - does Microsoft have the same type of patents on that format? Ultimately, I think this is ridiculous and will only serve to make Flash memory more expensive for the end-user. I hope Sandisk and the other Flash memory makers find a way to get around this - I never approve of companies making money in this fashion (through lawyers and old patents rather than through innovation). You can read the official Microsoft statement at their site. Bleh. :|
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12-04-2003, 10:12 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,329
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This isn't all that unexpected after reading:
Microsoft opens technology to more licensing
I would have expected MS to be a little slack on how they go about doing this though. :? But if its true that the next real update of Windows is 2005-2006 you can bet your wallet they will try and squeeze every dime they can from other revenue sources until that time.
PS- And its not like this is going to just effect flash cards. There are a whole heck of alot of products that take advantage of FAT. How about all those MP3 players out there? iPod? The new Dell Jukebox. Those memory sticks you plug into your system to move files from A to B. Floppy disks. Zip disks. The list is endless. 
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12-04-2003, 10:20 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 360
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In this case, I think it is fine for MS to charge for the FAT file system.
Kodak and other cameras are NOT using a MS Operating System and are using some other manufactures OS - with that in mind MS should be compensated for their technology.
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12-04-2003, 10:24 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 498
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Looks like nothing wrong to charge for FAT system. But it is not so friendly at all.
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12-04-2003, 10:32 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,329
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by jfreiman
In this case, I think it is fine for MS to charge for the FAT file system.
Kodak and other cameras are NOT using a MS Operating System and are using some other manufactures OS - with that in mind MS should be compensated for their technology.
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Not after this amount of time. I really believe a companies right to "cash in" on a patent should expire after a certain amount of time. This is very similar to all these patent lawsuits we've seen recently trying to claim that some widespread tech is theirs to own. When the tech has been around for decades. This is no different.
Microsoft saw that a whole market revolves around something that they've been giving away for free for almost a quarter of a century and said lets cash in.
If Microsoft was going to charge for this they should have done it back in the 80�s but if they had charged for FAT back then you�d wouldn�t see its proliferation today. You�ve either have a few different types sitting out there or one open source one. Everyone used FAT because, simply, it was Free. Makes me question some of the other currently free patents MS is giving away will remain free. Isn�t Windows Media 9 codec free?,
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PDA History: Palm Pilot 5000 -> Apple Newton 2100 -> Casio E-11 -> iPaq 3650 (64MB Upgrade) -> iPaq 3700 -> Casio EM-500 -> HP Jornada 568 -> HP iPaq hx4705 www.spreadfirefox.com |
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12-04-2003, 10:43 PM
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Mystic
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 1,639
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I don't see a problem with this. If the patents for the FAT technology belong to Microsoft and are valid why should they give the technology away?
Twenty five cents is not going to kill the market for memory products. At least they don't seem to be asking for payments for all the units already shipped.
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12-04-2003, 11:03 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,177
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Looks clearly like Microsoft has been giving away technology for free... Good thing they are not going after done deals. I think it is in order to license FAT, their property, and the level quite relevant, IMO.
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12-04-2003, 11:09 PM
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Contributing Editor
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 524
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Just another example of greed.
Next they'll charge a fee for every document created in the Word ".doc" format. There's no differance. Nobody has ever charged for storing things in a format they created. You've had to buy products to create a specific format but I can't think of any time where a company actually charged for each time something was produced in that format.
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12-04-2003, 11:10 PM
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Mystic
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,911
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They aren't asking for much money at all. Plus they own the FAT they can charge if they want.
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12-04-2003, 11:11 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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This could turn out to be pretty hysterical.
Quote:
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A license for manufacturers of certain consumer electronics devices. Pricing for this license is US$0.25 per unit for each of the following types of devices that use removable solid state media to store data: portable digital still cameras; portable digital video cameras; portable digital still/video cameras; portable digital audio players; portable digital video players; portable digital audio/video players; multifunction printers; electronic photo frames; electronic musical instruments; and standard televisions. Pricing for this license is US$0.25 per unit with a cap on total royalties of $250,000 per licensee. Pricing for other device types can be negotiated with Microsoft.
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Ok, stay with me. Earlier the article said (emphasis mine)
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The FAT file system is now supported by a wide variety of operating systems running on all sizes of computers, from servers to personal digital assistants. In addition, many digital devices such as still and video cameras, audio recorders, video game systems, scanners, and printers make use of FAT file system technology.
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So, PalmOne, Sony and other PalmSource partners are going to have to contact MS to negotiate licensing fees for use of the FAT file system in their storage cards. Throw Nokia in there too as my 3650 uses a MMC FAT formatted card to store images on. Then add Sharp and other Linux PDA vendors.. :rotfl: This stuff is just too funny.
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