14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is charging a hidden tax for every copy of Windows Vista sold. And the Software Freedom Law Center claims that Windows Vista is not a singular case, but an example of a general rule that is applied to all Window operating systems. According to the Software Freedom Law Center, every time you purchase a copy of Windows you not only pay Microsoft but also Sun Microsystems, Novell, InterTrust, Burst.com, z4 Technologies, P&IB and others.
"If you run a computer using Windows, you're not just paying for the programmers who put the program together and the corporate operations that brought it to market. You're also paying a hidden tax of well over $20 that Microsoft has had to pay to other patent holders. This is true whether you bought your copy of Windows on CD or pre-installed on a laptop, desktop, or server machine," revealed an announcement published by the SFLC.
But is there any truth to the claim of the hidden Windows Vista tax? Well, thinking strictly in terms of costs, of course that all the legal payouts following settlements together with the money poured in the legal defense process have to come out of Microsoft's pockets. SFLC claims that in excess of $100 million are spent on an annual basis for the defense in an average of 35 - 40 simultaneous patent lawsuits.
Additionally, Windows Vista is not a single block, it is a sum of technologies. And sometimes those technologies have been already patented by third-party organizations. As a result, Microsoft will license the patented technologies for their integration into Windows Vista.
One obvious example is Fraunhofer. Microsoft has licensed the MP3 technology integrated into Windows Media Player from the German developer Fraunhofer. And the Redmond Company has not paid a single dollar to Alcatel-Lucent, out of the $1.52 billion following a decision favorable to Alcatel-Lucent over patent infringement.
"In the last three years, Microsoft has publicly paid out more than four billion dollars to plaintiffs claiming that Microsoft's Windows and Office products infringed their patents. From April 2004 through March 2007, Microsoft paid settlements and court awards of $1.25 billion to Sun Microsystems, $536 million to Novell, $440 million to InterTrust, $60 million to Burst.com, $6 million to private inventor Carlos Amado, $115 million to z4 Technologies, $74 million to Korean company P&IB, and most recently, $1.52 billion to Alcatel-Lucent over patents allegedly infringed by Microsoft's software," SFLC added.
In conclusion, do take the claims of the Software Freedom Law Center with a grain of salt. Is there money that for every copy of Windows Vista does not go to Microsoft but to third-party patent holders? Most likely. But a hidden tax is simply a far fetched concept.