Quote:
Originally Posted by darryl
The Oracle ruling is an extensive topic in itself, worthy of its own thread. I thought the author of the zdnet article you linked to was in full panic mode. The views expressed reminded me of SCO and its Linux licenses. This will be an interesting one to watch, as the implications could be very significant indeed. Most interesting is that Google is in fact working on a replacement OS. The problem is, of course, apps. If Google introduce a new OS which won't run all or a large proportion of existing apps, then there could be a significant opportunity for Microsoft. And, of course, if Microsoft can again attract a significant share of the phone market then even its ebook store may derive significant benefits. But there are an awful lot of ifs. Based on the situation at the moment the most likely outcome at best for MS, at least in my opinion, is that it captures the "low lying fruit".
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Low-lying fruit is essentially the casual reader market.
Which, yes, is the best they can hope for in the near term.
I'm just thinking that casual readers are a non-trivial market, especially since neither Apple nor Google--the current non-Amazon brands mining that market--offer a PC solution.
Rather than leave the field to Amazon, MS first tried to partner with NOOK (who failed them miserably) and now with Ingram.
As I said, it's not for me, but it's an attempt to bring a bit more competition to the ebook world. Who knows, "maybe the horse will sing."
As, for the Oracle ruling, it is a bit more than the SCO linux lawsuits.
Remember that ZDNET coverage is enterprise-focused, while sister site CNET is consumer-focused. So the ZDNET author is coming at it from the point of view of corporate line of business app developers. These developers are very risk-adverse. (The same people who wait for the first service pack before migrating to new versions of Windows.)
So it's not panic: it's a recognition that corporate IT types need certainty and will not stick with a development environment that might expose them to legal claims.
Since the court ruling is about the use of the APIs, not just the implementation of the APIs, it impacts all Android apps, not just the OS itself. Absent Oracle saying they will not sue app developers no IT department is going to risk having to explain to their CEOs why Oracle is suing them over an inhouse app.
The case is headed straight for the SCOTUS but that will take years.
In the meantime new IT app development will have to be leery of Android as a development environment.
It's the nature of the beast: corporate managers don't really trust their IT departments and many see them as a necessary evil. That's why so many outsource to IBM, DELL, HP, etc.