Quote:Microsoft to gouge for flash memory FAT licences
$quarter per device, or $250,000 per company
By INQUIRER staff: Thursday 04 December 2003, 21:48
IT SEEMS that Microsoft has decided to pull in some old patents and start charging manufacturers of flash devices who may use the FAT file system in their gizmos.
Microsoft claims rights to the FAT file system back to 1976, and it has made a few changes since then, as we recall only too well.
The new scheme is based on a few patents including this lot, U.S. Patent #5,579,517, U.S. Patent #5,745,902, U.S. Patent #5,758,352, and U.S. Patent #6,286,013.
Microsoft also claims that it's filed a claim for a patent that the US Patent Office hasn't yet granted, which will extend to products outside the US.
It is apparently offering companies a licence where they pay either a $quarter per unit or a $quarter of a million per manufacturer.
Pricing for devices that aren't the kind of flash you find in TVs, video cameras, printers, musical instruments, audio players, digital cameras and others can apparently be negotiated with the Vole.
That'd be Smartphones, then.
The licence will be conditional on the FAT system being used on a device being compliant with Microsoft standards.
Companies might like to negotiate narrower or broader licences with the Vole.
And yes, you may not need a licence for a device which isn't formatted, but if it ends up using FAT you probably do need one, it appears.
Almost unbelievable. But it's true.
Point is, if Microsoft is going to push and shove manufacturers in Taiwan or China to license its FAT system, it may just end up pushing these manufacturers straight into the arms of other OSes, such as Linux. Or even IBM PC DOS, which is still its own entity. µ
That's right! Two things, first off, I have invented a word to describe that phenomenon when a site starts spraying advertising for one product all over their format. Second off, GameFAQs now has pages where the format is altered to incorporate all manner of advertising for things, just like IGN. Check out their Gamecube page to see for yourself. Fortunatly, it's a LOT tamer than what IGN does (just a banner ad and a color change).
Only the British one mind you. Now, first off since they are in fact a private organization (I think :D), they can do as they will. However, they are called the Red CROSS! Under this new rule, won't they have to change their name? Unless they mean to go to what the cross USED to represent, that is pain and suffering.
The latest issue of Nintendo Dream magazine offers clarification as to exactly what games will be included when Nintendo publishes The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords for GameCube in Japan next February. The four-player action-RPG based on the 16-bit Link to the Past will also include a few of the other experimental projects shown at E3 this year.
In addition to the main Four Swords adventure, where four players can control four Links using the Game Boy Advance or GameCube controller for cooperative play, the disc will also include the Tetra's Trackers stamp-collecting game shown at E3. Tetra's Trackers, starring the eponymous pirate queen in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, challenges four players to hunt up hidden items around a series of large levels.
The disc will also include two games for single-player action. One, called "Shadow Battle," is a survival-type game where Link must battle a continuous stream of opponents. The other, entitled "Hyrule Adventure," is a more involved story-driven single-player campaign with some gameplay elements, like time travel, drawn from Link to the Past.
As mentioned above, Four Swords is scheduled for retail release in Japan in February. Nintendo has yet to confirm a Japanese retail price for the game, however, or any details regarding an American release. We'll update with the pertinent details as they arrive.
Awesome. Now it's worth $50! I hope that Hyrule Adventure mode is decently-sized.
