Alec Saunders SquawkBox

Quite a bit has been written in the blogosphere about the Sprint patent suit against Vonage and VoiceGlo.  Martin muses a little about Sprint’s patent strategy.  Jeff doesn’t believe the suit has any merit.  Olga Kharif at BusinessWeek comments that the suit is very thin on details, and wonders whether it is simply a shakedown tactic to get Vonage’s price down before an acquisition.

My point of view?  Let’s wait and see.  Sprint would be stupid to sue Vonage and VoiceGlo over fundamental VoIP patents, such as specifics of SIP or other technologies.  However, implementation patents are a different story. Implementation patents read on specific implementation details that companies use to gain advantage over others when implementing open technologies.  If Sprint is alleging violation of patents that it might use to deliver a higher quality VoIP service than it’s competitors, then it makes perfect sense to sue. 

Wait and see.  There are many subtleties to patents, and this has just started.  

Andy - Ken Radio, originally uploaded by Alec Saunders.

As I posted Monday, I’ve been off to see Andy in San Diego. Ever wanted to know what Ken Radio looks like when it’s being recorded? Here you go. And the whiteboard at the left contains super-secret iotum plans.

Over on the Skype Community blog there’s an announcement about a plug-in that interfaces Skype with Windows MCE.  It’s a very simple idea.  Bury Skype inside MCE, allowing you to screen calls, listen to voice mail, and so on, with your remote control. 

Dell’s Instructor Mitch Ferrence campaign is continuing to dive.  According to Google, Mitch Ferrence now returns a grand total of 786 results.  Alexa ranks it at about 353,000, with traffic spikes on the 20th and 25th of September. 

Too bad.  I thought it was very funny.