Microsoft has provided indemnification to volume licensees for several years, although prior to 2003 the protection had a monetary cap. Now, all licensed end-user customers -- regardless of whether they have acquired their license through one of Microsoft's volume licensing programs or through other means, such as a retail outlet or computer manufacturer -- will receive IP indemnification with no monetary cap for covered claims.
Microsoft says it is not providing IP protection for its embedded products due to the fact that embedded developers can modify the source code, which is available under Microsoft's
Shared Source Program. Thus, the company has less control over the end software, and can't vouch for its IP status, it says.
IP ownership has become a growing problem recently, due to the increasing use of open source software such as Linux, an issue that Microsoft noted in a recent
"executive email" from CEO Steve Ballmer. Some Linux vendors provide limited indemnification for the software they ship, but none matches the unlimited coverage offered by the latest Microsoft IP protection program.
Still, Microsoft has yet to extend its IP protection to the embedded market, where Windows Embedded faces
strong competition from Linux, as well as from a number of proprietary real-time operating systems (RTOSes) including Wind River's VxWorks.
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