In their update intended for April 11th, Microsoft will
disable / modify some of the functionality in its Internet
Explorer Web browers. This will affect “ActiveX” controls
for rich and dynamic media such as streaming audio and
video.

Before you get caught up in the hype, read this article.

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Microsoft Loses Patent Lawsuit

- by Jim Edwards

© Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved
http://www.IGottaTellYou.com
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One of the top news stories this week that got virtually no
popular press involves the judgment against Microsoft by a
small company with a big software patent.

University of California and Eolas Technologies, Inc. hold a
patent which Microsoft, according to several judges,
violated with its popular Internet Explorer Web browser.

Without going into painful technical detail, the patent
involves the “ActiveX” technology enabling Web browsers to
display both web pages and content such as streaming audio,
Flash, QuickTime video and other “rich” or “dynamic”
content.

Despite heated input by the Internet community to invalidate
Eolas’ patent because of its broad nature, Microsoft lost
every appeal and effort to get the patent nullified.

Bottom line: Microsoft faced two choices. First, they could
pay the patent owner and keep things moving along, business
as usual (much the way Blackberry did recently when a judge
found them guilty of patent infringement).

Second choice: Microsoft could avoid future licensing fees
by changing their IE browser and removing the offending
code.

Which do you think they chose? Ding-ding-ding!

You guessed it, Microsoft chose to avoid paying millions
more by simply removing the offending code.

Unfortunately, that decision means a bit of trouble for a
few million web designers who use Flash, streaming movies,
and more.

Ultimately, the change to IE may force visitors to sites
with rich content to click on an object to enable it before
they can interact with it.

Not a huge deal. However, time will tell what ultimately
happens and the actual impact on sites running rich content.

But before everyone starts screaming that “The sky is
falling” and “our websites are broken,” let me ask you a
question.

Do you really think that companies like Macromedia (makers
of Flash) and sites like Google Video will let a few changes
in Internet Explorer put them out of business?

I don’t think so!

If anything, this change will force companies to step up to
the plate and discover ways to serve dynamic content that
does not depend on ActiveX.

Sure, it will mean some pain for both content creators and
users in the short term, but in the end I honestly believe
that, through innovation, we will all end up with a better
solution than what currently exists.

In other news today…

** Hollywood Goes Online **

Six major movie studios recently announced their intentions
to start selling new-release movies via Internet download
from the site MovieLink.com.

But before you jump for joy at watching “Brokeback Mountain”
on your pc, understand a couple of facts.

You can’t burn the movie to DVD, and the downloadable films
carry a price tag of around $15-30, a price comparable or
more than a physical DVD you can purchase at Wal-Mart.

As a rabid DVD consumer and enthusiastic computer user (with
six in my home office alone), I can tell you right up front,
there is no way in @#$%* I’ll pay 20 bucks for a movie I
can’t “veg” out with in front of the TV.

Are they insane?

Until it gets to the point where you can download a new-
release movie, burn it to DVD or put it on your iPod,
downloadable flicks will remain, at best, a novelty.

–
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the
creator of an amazing course that will teach you step-by-
step and click-by-click how to finally create your own
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