Intel fires warning shots at Microsoft, says x86 emulation is a patent minefield
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Re: Intel fires warning shots at Microsoft, says x86 emulation is a patent minefield
#2I remember IBM having a contract with Intel to allow other chip companies to make x86 chips in case Intel could not keep up with demand.
QEMU emulates X86 chips as does other emulators. I wonder how those are effected?
Re: Intel fires warning shots at Microsoft, says x86 emulation is a patent minefield
#3Well, since x86 is a monopoly ... Intel oughta go easy on this one.
Re: Intel fires warning shots at Microsoft, says x86 emulation is a patent minefield
#4How did I not already know Microsoft had a working x86 emulator.. this is a massive game changer for the laptop space if it's fast and reliable enough, as afaik ARM chips are so much more power efficient for similar perf
Re: Intel fires warning shots at Microsoft, says x86 emulation is a patent minefield
#5I remember IBM having a contract with Intel to allow other chip companies to make x86 chips in case Intel could not keep up with demand. QEMU emulates X86 chips as does other emulators. I wonder how those are effected?
AFAIK white box emulation has been around forever. I'd be surprised if it isn't already worked out in the courts, since this has been happening since before computers were around.
Re: Intel fires warning shots at Microsoft, says x86 emulation is a patent minefield
#6Patents expire after 17 years and x86 is 39 years old, so any of the original patents must have expired twice over already.
They no doubt have been filing additional patents over the years. But I'm sure MS and Qualcomm have plenty of their own patents to bargain with.
Also their warning could backfire if it gives Microsoft one more reason to finally walk away from x86 compatibility... not that this is likely to happen anytime soon.
Re: Intel fires warning shots at Microsoft, says x86 emulation is a patent minefield
#7Well, since x86 is a monopoly ... Intel oughta go easy on this one.
I was thinking the same thing.
Intel is gonna get its shit pushed in one way or the other on this, and I'm gonna watch it happen with a big smile on my face.
Patents will not stop the march of progress.
Re: Intel fires warning shots at Microsoft, says x86 emulation is a patent minefield
#8How did I not already know Microsoft had a working x86 emulator.. this is a massive game changer for the laptop space if it's fast and reliable enough, as afaik ARM chips are so much more power efficient for similar perf
Pretty sure it was this acquisition.
https://news.microsoft.com/2003/02/19/microsoft-acquires-con...
Re: Intel fires warning shots at Microsoft, says x86 emulation is a patent minefield
#9> And Intel's business health continues to have a strong dependence on Microsoft's business, which has to make the chip firm a little wary of taking the software company (or its customers) to court.
I mean, Apple and Samsung had a billion dollar lawsuit while Samsung chips were still in iPhones. It's certainly precedented to sue a corporation you're actively doing business with.
Re: Intel fires warning shots at Microsoft, says x86 emulation is a patent minefield
#10So they will ban all virtual machines which sometimes have to go for emulation, e.g. to handle XSAVE?
Scorched earth policy will likely not be defensible under fair use law. Reverse engineering for compatibility has a few precedents.