

How Google and Microsoft Can Halt a Product - Yhippa
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/03/14/how-google-and-microsoft-can-halt-a-product/

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PaulHoule
A dual-boot Android/Windows tablet is a big black eye for Microsoft.

I mean, Windows 8 is already supposed to be a tablet operating system fused
onto the desktop, so if you're adding Android support you're really saying
that Metro is useless.

~~~
nightski
Or they are trying to entice android users that wouldn't normally try Windows
Phone.

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cek
I'm not sure what this article has to do with Microsoft.

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mikestew
Granted, the article authors are really stretching to add another big
corporate name to their article. However, Microsoft has been known in the past
to dictate what an OEM can and cannot do. The example that comes to mind is
their "if you want a discount on Win licenses, Windows will go on every
machine".

~~~
CurtHagenlocher
Presumably, subsequent smackdowns by the EU and the US Justice Department have
introduced a certain amount of cautiousness at Microsoft.

Disclosure: I am a Microsoft employee.

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dublinben
Will they kill the upcoming Huawei Android/WinPho device as well?

[http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/huawei-we-are-still-
commi...](http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/huawei-we-are-still-committed-to-
windows-phone-but-dual-os-is-better)

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cordite
What can the " European antitrust authorities" do if they decide something? It
seems like the damage has already been done, like launching a DMCA request
against a rival company's hoster on launch day.

~~~
frandroid
They can't fix the past, but if the EU determines that some actions of Google
are illegal, once Google is notified, three things will happen: 1) A fine will
be levied for past misconduct 2) Google will know that repeat of similar
action will result in swift legal injunctions against it, with potential of
heavier fines for repeating behaviour that has been identified as illegal 3)
If Google repeats the behaviour anyway, said injunctions could be applied
rapidly, and the company that Google was trying to bully could have freer
reign to introduce its cutting edge/weird products.

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ChuckMcM
The useful take away here is that these folks to threaten third parties when
those third parties displease them, whether it was Intel threatening Dell if
they used the Opteron, or Microsoft threatening ASUS when they showed an ARM
based Laptop at CeBIT that ran Linux only, or this particular case of the
mixed tablet/laptop.

This case should have been easily predicted by Asustek though as Microsoft has
bet pretty big on their '2 in 1' branding of the tabtop or lablet thing. The
marketing push has been pretty amazing, at least in the SF bay area.

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yuhong
From [http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/03/google-and-
microsoft-...](http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/03/google-and-microsoft-
are-out-to-stop-dual-boot-windowsandroid-devices/) :

"The report states that Intel's plan around this is to help OEMs ship PCs and
tablets to distribution channels with no OS pre-installed. The device could
then be loaded with the desired OS when a customer orders a system."

This would encourage less buggy UEFI/ACPI firmware, for one thing.

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sremani
if I read the article correctly Google is under EU Anti-trust cross-hairs
given the stringent requirements it imposes on OEMs using Android.

What is good for goose should be good for gander.

~~~
yuhong
But I think in this case both Google and Microsoft are opposed to it, and
these would be the only parties that would be interested in starting such an
anti-trust suit.

Edit: I forgot about Intel. Would they be interested in fighting?

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winslow
I would be furious if I were one of the engineers working on a project that
gets canned by another company at the final hour.

~~~
pasbesoin
Regarding working for a large corporation, this comic has stayed in my mind
ever since I saw it.

At times, I have particularly related to the sixth panel.

[http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1996-06-02/](http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1996-06-02/)

~~~
stcredzero
Dilbert always gives me paroxysms of laughter and existential pain, but this
was above average.

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stcredzero
Android is so open source, you can't dual boot it!

At least Windows and Microsoft still means what it always did.

~~~
adwf
Except in the case of Win8 secure boot on tablets, which can't be rooted and
dual-booted. Unlike Android.

~~~
xamlhacker
You do realize that for most Android devices, "rooting" requires finding a
security exploit first to allow escalation of priviledges to root? It is not
officially a part of Android and is not really blessed by the OEMs.

From a policy/ethical perspective, if you have to find a security exploit
first to completely own your device, how is Android OEM policies any different
from Windows then?

~~~
adwf
Every android device I've owned has been freely rootable. Maybe there are some
that are more restrictive, but all I've had to do is change a setting in a
menu.

Whereas the Win8/secure boot ecosystem is an active pain to dual boot, where
it doesn't just downright block it entirely. I had a Win8 laptop that I bought
recently, it was an absolute pain in the arse to get anything other than
windows booting.

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Zigurd
Google's method to keep OEMs in line is not without costs. For example, you
can get Amazon, Kindle, Amazon App Store, and Audible for Google-logo
Androids, but you can't (officially) get Google's suite of apps for Kindle
Fire devices. Kindle Fire devices are a large percentage of tablets that run
Android OS and are compatible with 3rd party Android apps.

At some point, Google might re-think this equation. Perhaps as a way of
"participating" inside China without officially being there. Perhaps if
Microsoft really does ship an "AndroidAsha" and it catches on.

So far, Google has played clean. Google has done nothing to interfere with
Amazon's business selling devices running Google's Apache-licensed code.
Contrast that with Sun's FUDding the crap out of anyone using an open source
Java implementation.

