Even mobile karma is a bi…

Now I know you've heard that expression but the folks over at Microsoft Mobile are really saying it today. Research in Motion, the maker of a popular business communication brick Blackberry, has been in a patent lawsuit for a very long time allowing Microsoft to grow and become a serious contender in the mobile business communication. However, Microsoft was always criticized for having no push support for email or centralized security for its mobile devices. All that changed with the release of Exchange 2003 SP2 which integrated management interfaces for mobile security, management, push email and more. Now the only missing piece of the puzzle is the software that goes onto the Windows Mobile device called Microsoft Mobile Security and Feature Pack (MSFP) which enables the device to work with the Exchange server to establish a security poliy, push email and get wiped remotely. Microsoft released this piece to its OEM's (guys actually making the phone or handheld device) for testing and development in November and we were told to expect it in the first quarter of 2006. But yesterday a former Microsoft partner and an ISV decided to file a lawsuit contending that technology behind MSFP is covered by their patents. They put out this press release just days after RIM lost their patent fight. Ouch, talk about karma. Now this part made me laugh because it comes on the heels of the post I wrote just yesterday:

"For more than a decade, small, innovative companies in Silicon Valley and elsewhere have lived in fear of the day Microsoft decides to enter their market," Bogosian said. "They are a big, powerful, wealthy company, but they have no real growth, even in their most profitable divisions. They want to show investors that they can sustain growth in a new, developing market, like mobile access to email and data, but they cannot be permitted to do that by misappropriating another company's intellectual property." "Innovative companies have been pummeled out of existence or into minor players after Microsoft decided to enter their markets," Bogosian added. "Netscape and RealNetworks are among the best known examples. Courts around the world have ruled time after time against Microsoft, saying that it has acted either inappropriately or in violation of the law, especially concerning how they have treated competing companies. We will not let that happen to Visto."

Now mind you, my article was written from a standpoint of a software publisher and a small business owner so my look was more on the changing face of software and big business competition. I think we all can learn and owe it to our companies to see the big picture and see how remarkably successful companies are trying to eliminate their competitors. Visto is on the receiving end of that equation, and really going after Microsoft on this one. So there is your business lesson for the day – either learn to compete and negotiate or CYA with patents and hope the lawyers you have will work on contingency basis. Good luck with the lawsuit boys, statistics are against you. And if someone has some spare cash to sue Microsoft could you please demand immediate release of MSFP? How you settle with Visto is between you and them, but I need to get my spam a lot faster than I do now. (No, I still don't have it, do not email asking for it..) Come on, someone go to Taiwan and crack the whip on HTC already!