More patent wars, Android hits 50 and a dev goes off the deep end

Patent war wages ever on

We've talked at length about Google's inability to defend Android against patent infringement lawsuits. This is in large part owing to the fact that Google as a whole dislikes patent law and hasn't wanted to play the game.

Now the company seems to be taking up arms, but not as one might expect. Rather than just playing the patent game, Google seems intent on patent law reform.

David Drummond, a Senior VP and Google's Chief Legal Officer posted a gloves-off letter on the official Google blog taking the winners of a recent patent win to task.

Drummond suggests that the latest patent scoop by the consortium that counted Apple, Microsoft and Oracle among its members were waging "an organized campaign" with "bogus patents." Drummond goes on to suggest that the current patent law is flawed and that rather than fostering innovation (by protecting innovators and their ideas) it's actively stifling it.

What's really happening is a loggerhead of the old way vs. the new. Android is free to use and free to modify, which makes it a compelling offering for device manufacturers looking for the perfect OS. Patent holders, Drummond contends, are trying to put a tax on Android. Basically they are trying to compete on terms they are familiar with rather than trying to out-innovate Android.

We'll see what happens here, but we can assure you of one thing: This blog post and all its barely contained vitriol was not a late-night drunken rage against the machine in the form of a blog posting. It's a carefully crafted strategy to bring alleged patent abuses to bear. It's also an effort to create some controversy so the mainstream media can have bit of controversy for the 6 o'clock news and the financial op-ed pages; it's an effort to change patent law.

Android eyes the big 5-0

We've covered Android's meteoric rise at length on this show. Now, Android gears up to celebrate another landmark. The big 5-0.

Research firm Canalys puts Android on the fast track to 50 percent market share. Apple is in second but interestingly, is tops in revenue.

Putting these numbers into perspective, Android is now approaching Windows desktop territory; it's all but ubiquitous. If there was any doubt that this decade will belong to mobile, let's just put that to rest right now.

Android, a free OS that manufacturers are allowed to take, modify and release on their devices, hasn't even made inroads on anything but mobile devices. When the next wave of set top boxes, TVs, radios and toasters arrives the number will only climb.

Long story short: if you're an Android devotee it looks like you're on the winning side.

Android dev lashes out

If there's one thing we've learned in years of working in media it's not to bite the hand that feeds. That is to say that the audience, no matter how much they want to tear you down, has to be treated with respect.

One Android developer in particular has flouted this, the first rule of media, by taking on some of his app's detractors. He even goes so far as to call them out by name in his app description in the Android Market.

The rant begins: "Why are you so STUPID?!" and continues with such gems as "my application can not guess that you have not learned to read," and "Charles and Erik, you are not obese, just stupid."

Seems the developer, Woytek, was a little miffed at the negative ratings his BMI Calculator app was receiving. As developers aren't offered any way to address user feedback, he took to the description field to start naming names.

All this as a result of negative comments like that left by "Ryan" which runs: "No age or gender input. Also, I have a flat and hard stomach and run daily but apparently I'm almost over weight? very inaccurate."

In among the angry snipes at dissatisfied users are some nuggets of wisdom: no app can properly differentiate between muscle mass and fat. Perhaps the angrier among the app users should drop their phones in the bath tub and see if the app is capable of doing a water displacement BMI test.

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