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"There has been a lot of press coverage about the Microsoft/TomTom settlement. Unfortunately, so far, I have seen no one speak directly about the dangers that this deal could pose to software freedom, and what our community should consider in its wake. Karen and I discussed some of these details on our podcast, but I thought it would be useful to have a blog post about this issue as well..."
Tomboy's role in GNOME has made it a troublesome component that grabs an entire Mono stack into many GNU/Linux distributions. For reasons that were brought up before, the TomTom lawsuit teaches everyone why Mono does not belong in GNU/Linux.
When Microsoft first sued TomTom for patent violations in TomTom's Linux-powered navigation devices, I wasn't sure how much of a fight TomTom would put up. Legally TomTom was between a rock and a hard place. You can't use restricted-use patents in GPLed software.
TomTom and Microsoft have settled the patent litigation. Here's TechFlash's coverage. According to the Microsoft press release, TomTom will remove functionality regarding the FAT patents within two years, which is no big deal, frankly, and in the meantime, they are covered "in a manner that is fully compliant with TomTom's obligations under the General Public License Version 2 (GPLv2)"
My wife gifted me with a TomTom ONE 125 GPS navigator. On charging it up and connecting it to my computer, I discovered that Microsoft had struck again.
Here's the complaint filed by Microsoft against TomTom, NV and TomTom, Inc., alleging patent infringement, as PDF and as text. We'll be setting up a Timeline page for it after TomTom files its answer.
This is exactly what we were afraid of. Last month, when Microsoft sued Dutch GPS-maker TomTom on the principle that parts of Linux -- which form the guts of TomTom's device -- violate Microsoft's patents, we hoped for a quick settlement.
Microsoft filed suit against TomTom today, alleging that the in-car navigation company's devices violate eight of its patents -- including three that relate to TomTom's implementation of the Linux kernel.
