Old Content:

Microsoft Wants Your Keyboard

August 22, 2008 by Kyle Brady
Tags: Competition, Keyboard, Microsoft, Patents, Technology
As required by the FTC, a Full Disclosure is available - this piece adheres to the Code of Ethics

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Eran Hammer-Lahav ("EHL") wrote up a piece on the weird thoughts Microsoft must have since they just patented, in effect, the "Page Up" and "Page Down" button.

Here's my take on it, with a different end-game scenario than EHL, more-or-less duplicated from a comment I made on his blog:

Microsoft is, and always has been, about collecting as much money as possible, while doing as little as possible. "Stealing" MS-DOS and making huge profits from it, repackaging an OS as a "new" version with very little differences... we've all heard that before.

So why should the keyboard be any different? They could potentially ingest massive profits because unlicensed keyboards (aka "not Microsoft") use the buttons associated with their patent, depending on how the courts interpret the depth and reach of this.

Also, this might be a play at what I've thought they might do for awhile: try and control and own as much of the computer as possible. As people move to Macs and Linux, it's probably becoming more and more attractive for them to disrupt competitors by simply "owning" the technology. If your keyboard (or any other common component) ends up being radically different on a Mac (besides the minimal differences now), users might reconsider switching.

Next they'll concoct a strategy about LCD monitors!

Old Content posts are leftovers from a less structured, less civilzed era that are kept for posterity.
Kyle can be found on Twitter and MySpace, or reached via email.