2011 March | Alec Saunders

We shouldn’t feel a lot of sympathy for Barnes & Noble, Foxconn and Inventec. These are the creators of the Barnes and Noble Nook e-book reader, and they’re also the folks that Microsoft sued yesterday, alleging infringement of a series of Microsoft patents in that same device.

The patents are listed below.

5,889,522: System provided child window controls (Filed 1994, issued 1999)
5,778,372: Remote retrieval and display management of electronic document with incorporated images (Filed 1996, issued 1998)
6,339,780: Loading status in a hypermedia browser having a limited available display area (Filed 1997, issued 2002)
6,891,551: Selection handles in editing electronic documents (Filed 2001, issued 2005)
6,957,233: Method and apparatus for capturing and rendering annotations for non-modifiable electronic content (Filed 1999, issued 2005)

I haven’t read any of them in detail, and wouldn’t want to comment on their validity in any case, as I’m not a lawyer. However:

Note the file / issue dates. All of these are very very old patents. The shrill cries from TechCrunch that Microsoft is stifling innovation ignore the facts – that Microsoft invented these concepts over a decade a go. They were innovators then, and now believe that others are profiting from their innovations. They simply have a longer view of the innovation cycle than most companies.
Many of these patents are written describing a user experience on a PC. As mobile devices become general purpose devices – replacing PC’s with so-called “post-PC” devices – we should expect that PC concepts pioneered by Microsoft (and likely Apple) will find their way into our mobile devices. To the extent that those are patented concepts, someone will have to pay.

Frankly, Microsoft is smart. Google, the creators of the Android OS used in the Nook, are notoriously weak when it comes to patents. Microsoft isn’t. When Google’s open source competitor to Microsoft’s products wins market share by undercutting Microsoft on price, the only logical solution is to level the playing field by asking those who benefit from Google’s largesse to share the profits. By naming Foxconn and Inventec (the contract manufacturers of the Nook) as well as Barnes & Noble, Microsoft is seeking to impose that licensing fee on the actual manufacturer, and not just the retailer.

After losing key patent battles in the 1990’s (remember Stac Electronics?), Microsoft built a huge patent portfolio. That portfolio will be a force to be reckoned with for a long time. Expect Microsoft to use it to win new business, defend existing business, and create new revenue streams.

So who will win this current lawsuit? In a battle between an ostrich (Barnes & Noble) and a troll (Microsoft), I’d bet on the troll.

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Later this week, Browsium Inc will officially launch UniBrows. I feel tempted to make a joke about cosmetic eyebrow products, but I’ll refrain. In fact, UniBrows is the IT department’s answer to Microsoft’s refusal to support the millions of enterprise line of business applications that were built for IE6, and won’t run on IE8. This is likely the biggest blocking issue for any IT department facing an upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7. Microsoft’s stance is to ask their customers to “remediate” their applications to IE8. Remediate is a big word that means rewrite. Frankly, it’s surprising that Microsoft has chosen to abandon its customers in this fashion.

Nevertheless, Browsium solves this problem effectively and cleanly for the IT manager. It gives the IT manager the ability to define profiles specifying settings and configurations including browser engines, java versions and so on for individual sites in the organization. When the site is loaded into IE 8, the correct browser engine (IE 6, for example) is loaded transparently to the end user.

The IT manager simply creates a profile:

Specifies the rules for the profile:

and pushes it to user.

When a user hits a site that requires the profile, that profile is loaded. It even allows individual browser tabs to load their own profiles separately from other browser engines.

UniBrows is as close to seamless as anything I’ve ever seen. It solves a huge problem for Microsoft and their customers. Priced at what can only be described as a “no-brainer” for the corporation, I predict millions of seats will be sold.