I'm of two minds about this - on the one hand, I'm disheartened at the continuing saga of a patent system that allows such ludicrous ideas as "swipe to lock" to be patented. If there was ever "system or process" that didn't need patenting to have it's "methods" revealed to the public to promote the "Progress of Science and useful arts" - "Swipe to Lock" would be it.
On the other hand, actually, no, I'm just of one mind on this one.
The craziest thing about this injunction is it isn't even about 'swipe to unlock' which is pretty ridiculous, but it is about unified search (the search bar on Android phones searches the device /and/ the web - Apple has a patent on that, Google does not.)
The patent they are getting caught up with is for the Universal Search. I read that the patch will dumb down the voice + google search bar to only perform google searches and not search through apps, contacts, etc... Supposedly the suit does/will not affect Google Now, though.
Just another example of how terrible it is that patents are stifling progress. Also hilarious since Google's core is basically universal search.
I agree with the last paragraph in the article -- it's pretty crazy to see Google anointing this software update as special and rushing it out so much faster than normal Android updates.
I mean, I get it, this is a headline-grabbing issue and they need to act to keep a flagship phone on the market, and it's Google writing this patch rather than the phone manufacturer. But if it's okay to fast-track and skip some of the process for this patch, why not others?
There are two possible reasons for this. This most probably is a small patch. just disabling a feature and not removing it completely from the phone; as such, it would not affect drivers and such like other Android updates. The second reason is that it may be just an app update for Search if they have that well separated from the OS, which would mean that it would not change any of the bloatware carries and hardware makers put in.
[+] [-] ghshephard|13 years ago|reply
On the other hand, actually, no, I'm just of one mind on this one.
[+] [-] myko|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cargo8|13 years ago|reply
Just another example of how terrible it is that patents are stifling progress. Also hilarious since Google's core is basically universal search.
[+] [-] azza-bazoo|13 years ago|reply
I mean, I get it, this is a headline-grabbing issue and they need to act to keep a flagship phone on the market, and it's Google writing this patch rather than the phone manufacturer. But if it's okay to fast-track and skip some of the process for this patch, why not others?
[+] [-] lomegor|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] idspispopd|13 years ago|reply
Rather I'd prefer if they took their time and presented a solution that beats 'swipe to unlock'. Making it a real lemons to lemonade scenario.
Unfortunately if they repeat the past the financial pressure of getting to market tends to prefer the first option over the second.
[+] [-] SkyMarshal|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tensor|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
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