Microsoft has sued Tom Tom, the GPS navigation company, for various patent violations, including unlicensed use of Microsoft’s File Allocation Table, also known as FAT. However, Microsoft is unlikely to prevail. So what is the Redmond software developer’s real motivation?

Starting in 2003, Microsoft began licensing the FAT file system (a system dating back to DOS for the low-level storage and retrieval of data). Prior to 2003, Microsoft never had a FAT licensing program nor had they pursued any company over the use of their FAT file system. Plus, decades have now passed, during which many companies have made products compatible with the FAT file system. Microsoft has already lost a case in Germany regarding the use of the FAT file system. So, Microsoft’s chances of prevailing against Tom Tom, at least in regards to the FAT issue, are basically zero. So what are they really up to?

Microsoft wants to strike fear into the hearts of all companies involved with Linux/Unix, including Red Hat, IBM, Ubuntu, Novell -  but especially Apple.

Due to increases in Apple’s market share (not to mention Apple’s growing mind share among IT professionals), Microsoft is looking for ways to scare open-source vendors and platforms built on open-source (including OS X). Operating systems including Linux, BSD Unix, Solaris, and OS X almost universally have the ability to read/write using the FAT system. And I’m not talking about Samba which has erroneously been cited by other news outlets. Samba is a system for network communications, not for low-level storage of data. Basically, Microsoft is threatening any company that produces or distributes a product with FAT capabilities. An enormous amount of systems have that capability, not to mention embedded devices, like the Tom Tom, that use FAT for storage of their own internal data.

The FAT system is not revolutionary and it never was. It is not a sophisticated storage system by today’s standards. For example, it has no journaling and is easily corrupted. Plus, FAT compatible software is built without Microsoft’s proprietary FAT code.

Microsoft is playing a dangerous game here. There are elements of DOS, FAT, FAT32, NTFS and even the NT/XP/Vista kernel that contain technologies developed by other companies, and for which Microsoft has never provided any compensation or even any real credit.

I wonder if they would have pursued this position if Bill Gates was still running things full-time. He always talked about innovation. I see none here. The open-source world is not going away and Microsoft should find better ways to be competitive.

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