Cool

I hope Microsoft lose, go bankrupt and the world uses Apple.

go Tom Tom!

Out of court settlement or an actual suit against the Linux kernel next?

Suing me, Suing you

That is all that we can do.....

Sorry Björn.

Best of luck to 'em

Much as I'm generally opposed to software patents, I'm pro TomTom here.

Before we get into this one

let's please first settle the Sun - NetApps lawsuit/countersuit.

This is just too much excitement for the watching public.

Initiated by legal beagles?

Seems a bit like petulant children to me: won't talk? can't talk?

Give 'em hell TomTom

I love my TomTom

Aaah the mongoose bites the cobra.

Did MS not stop to think about the patents TomTom own, and the fact that it owns just about every digital mapping software company in the world?

GoogleMaps relies on TomTom mapping subsidiaries such as TelsAtlas for example.

Hmmn I just wonder did they bother to check their fudmachine before going in to this battle..

Hope they get their ass kicked.

Sort out this MS FUD about Linux for once and for all.

...cue joke about a plane!

Damn software patents, two wrongs don't make a right.

@Steven Jones

I don't often feel smug, thanks.

I don't use Apple products.

yehaaa

I'm doing the "go-go Tom -Tom" dance.

can i patent this dance?

ps whats happening with the EU vs. M$ suit?

RE: Aaah the mongoose bites the cobra.

Er, isn't that what mongooses (mongeese?) normally do?

/metaphor police

@Havin_it

Plural is Mongosses. Although Merriam Webster's claims Mongeese is acceptable, but only because people don't know the etymology of the word Mongoose. There is also a school of though that claims Mongoose is both the singular and plural form, but that is a grammatical argument that I just don't have the time or energy to get into :-).

Now here's a thought?

I suppose Tom Tom has shareholders (if not skip the text below)

It seems reasonable for shareholders to:

+ demand that senior managers exhaust all avenues before taking on what might be vexatious litigation

+ keep shareholders updated on a daily basis of how talks are progressing (one side of A4 summary (max) with links to original documents or correspondence, minutes, ... )

+ reasonably expect senior managers to avoid costly actions now that most organisations have been throttled badly by *anking sector follies

Microsoft's mapping software has British roots ...

Long before TomTom, way back in 1988 in fact, there was a British software company called NextBase that pretty much created the European route planning and mapping software market with 'Autoroute' and was #1 in the USA with 'Automap'. Microsoft bought them in 1994.

NextBase was a great example of British innovation. It was also one of the more successful acquisitions by Microsoft given that the technology they acquired is still shipping today!!

Re: the world uses Apple

I most sincerely hope not. Apple have been dreaming about being a globe-spanning, high-margin monopoly for a long, long time. Quite frankly, if MS suddenly vanished today, you'd be more likely to see commercial linux distributions step in. People like their cheap, commodity hardware, after all; we can't all afford to have overpriced status symbols even if we'd like one.

Oh, and @Havin_it:

The plural of mongoose is clearly polygoose.

@Steven Jones

Seems you're quite out of date with some of your info...

iTunes is now DRM-free and the files can be played on any AAC (not an Apple format - also used by Nokia, Sony Ericsson and thousands of digital music players) device.

You can use the iPhone on any mobile network where there are no operator exclusive deals (and those deals are not limited to the iPhone), or just get it unlocked like thousands of people do with other operator locked phones. This is not an iPhone issue, it's a mobile industry issue.

@Anonymous mactard

Apple still actively prevents its software from running on other PCs and other software from using the Ipod.