Microsoft ordered to pay $1.5 billion in MP3 patent lawsuit

[platinumsword]

According to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Microsoft has been ordered by a federal jury in San Diego to pay $1.52 billion to Alcatel-Lucent, for allegedly infringing on their patent technologies related to MP3 compression.

Story: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070222-8910.html

[samlar]

Just means they will pass the cost on to people who buy windows.

[debro]

Yep
But not to those those that go with linux, or use an independant/liberated activation server