Tech.Wapline

It’s not the first product to tout enterprise email integration for the iPhone, but Visto Mobile has announced a solution of its own, promising secure access to Exchange and Domino servers without any software install on the iPhone — a good thing, we’d say, considering that most IT departments frown on having to hack their fleet of mobile devices to set them up. Unlike Synchronica’s solution which games Exchange’s Outlook Web Access feature to avoid having to expose POP or IMAP servers to the world, Visto Mobile actually does require that admins open up a secure IMAP port and publishes the corporate directory to a Safari-friendly web page. Many IT departments frown on all that, too, so if you’re planning on pitching this lil’ solution to your own IT peeps, know full well that you may be turned away brokenhearted. Individual users can get in on the action for a one-time fee of $39 plus $10 per month, while companies are looking at $799 plus $199 per year plus $10 per month per user. Whew, patent suits must not be cheap, huh?

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Microsoft was ordered by a federal jury yesterday to pay $1.52 billion in a patent dispute over the MP3 format, the technology at the heart of the digital music boom. If upheld on appeal, it would be the largest patent judgment on record.

I realize that patents are created to protect the people who develop intellectual property, but I also think this was out of line. If you develop a new technology, you should get it out there yourself as/in a product or start selling the licensing for it. Waiting 20 years and then going for the wallet is a move made by people looking for the easy money, I think. I know a lot of you will disagree, but think about the “licensing” of Internet hyperlinks that was talked about (usually with gritted teeth) a few years back.

What do you think. Should Microsoft have to pay?

[via New York Times]