Microsoft Patents Crippling an Operating System

[Dr. C]

Microsoft was granted a patent in the United Sates on intentionally crippling an operating system.

The patent abstract:
A client computer runs an operating system that executes additional applications by loading them using an application loader and executes device drivers for peripheral devices by loading the drivers using a device loader. The operating system restricts the functionality of the operating system, such as by making selected portions and functionality of the operating system unavailable to the user or by limiting the user's ability to add software applications or device drivers to the computer. Additionally, various techniques can be used to remove or reduce the functionality limitations of the computer.

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=7,536,726.PN.&OS=PN/7,536,726&RS=PN/7,536,726

http://slashdot.org/submission/1003453/Microsoft-Patents-Crippling-Operating-Systems

Will Free Software be ever accused of infringing on this Microsoft patent?

[blastus]

Somebody tried to patent the wheel a few years ago so this is nothing new.

[Firestem4]

A part of this goes with Microsoft's attempts at the hardware level to block illegal ripping of movies/music. For instance, have you ever tried to make a screen capture of a video playing through Windows Media Player? All you see is a black screen.

Vista and 7 have even more increased "security". The OS, i believe is able to phone-home when something not-legit is played (Ie: blu-ray movie that was burned onto the computer). And then your playback can be disabled.

--try not to take this as a giant conspiracy rant. There is varied and inaccurate documentation on this, but it is a well known fact.

[MikeTheC]

Nothing Microsoft does surprises me. Disgusts me? Yes. Surprises me? Not at all.

I don't use Windows Media Player. I principally use a combination of iTunes and VLC. Frankly I just can't see why anyone should use WMP apart from if they have some stupid-@ss device that's WMP-only.

[Dr. C]

A part of this goes with Microsoft's attempts at the hardware level to block illegal ripping of movies/music. For instance, have you ever tried to make a screen capture of a video playing through Windows Media Player? All you see is a black screen.

Vista and 7 have even more increased "security". The OS, i believe is able to phone-home when something not-legit is played (Ie: blu-ray movie that was burned onto the computer). And then your playback can be disabled.

--try not to take this as a giant conspiracy rant. There is varied and inaccurate documentation on this, but it is a well known fact.

No need for any wild conspiracies here. One can just stick to the facts from the actual patent on file with the USPTO. The basic idea is an OS crippled with DRM that would require a consumer to pay extra to install certain drivers or software etc. A lot of the DRM in Vista and Windows 7 is already in place to accommodate this. Also this may be implemented in Windows 7 with starter edition. Want to run more than 3 applications then you need to enter your credit card number to unlock this feature from the DRM. The patent is quite broad however so one would need to enter your credit card number to install a driver for hardware or to install additional software including FLOSS etc. on the crippled Windows system.

[monsterstack]

Brilliant stuff. The thing that I wonder, though, is just how new this idea is. I mean, we've had trialware apps for ages. How is this any different?

It's just more testimony to the inherent naffness that is Microsoft. When Windows 7 ships, it will have a bunch of different versions, as usual; but what lots of people don't know is that all the versions are identical. The only thing that upgrading does is flick a switch somewhere in the bowels of the system which does


ultimateAddOns = true;

It certainly doesn't change the code or add to it in any significant way, anyway. Is it just me or does this method seem not only tasteless but also completely irrelevant?

[init1]

Eh, open source rarely give into absurd patents like that. Microsoft even patented the functionality of the page up and page down keys
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-218626.html

[Grant A.]

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/19/1931249&art_pos=4

Uh... are they paying off someone at the Patent Office? Because this sounds suspiciously like a business method patent, and how on Earth does paying money for extra features not already have prior art?

I can't believe they don't seem to realize that we are in a recession. Hopefully this will catch the eye of the Obama Administration, which is looking for an open opportunity to make an example out of an anti-trust bully.

[Dr. C]

Slashdot already has an extensive thread on this.
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/19/1931249

[Sef]

merged threads.

[3rdalbum]

Prior art: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2009/05/zeustracker_and_the_nuclear_op.html