This is a pretty interesting story, one that goes beyond the headline. Former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold did indeed build a beautiful cooking app, bypassing Android and, more notably, the Surface, to focus exclusively on the iPad. Makes sense to me. Android is a tough nut to crack and the iPad has that beautiful Retina display.
But there’s more to Myhrvold than that.
In addition to crafting culinary literature, Myhrvold cofounded Intellectual Ventures, a patent acquisition and licensing business that’s earned him the pejorative of “patent troll” from his critics over the past decade.
Yup. Those guys. Here’s a link to the wiki page. Hard to reconcile these pieces. Microsoft CTO, founder of Microsoft Research, founder of IV, and cooking genius who loves the iPad. Who’da thought?
It’s easy to look at a competitor or patent troll or some guy you “hate” on your favorite sports team’s rival and just assume he’s a jerk through and through, easier to have a simple reaction to him.
But they’re all people of course, and despite being a patent troll I’m not surprised he has a side of him you or I would find charming or interesting or worthwhile. Haven’t you ever seen “My Bodyguard?” He’s the Ricky Lindeman of the tech world!
Not the guys from Lodsys, though. They’re all a**holes, sunup to sundown.
“It’s just business nothing personal…”
Who else would know how much money is in iOS, than the guys that blackmail every single iOS developer for a share of their profit…. those scumbags.
Dude, THESE are the guys from Lodsys. Lodsys is just one of their many shell companies they use precisely to get people like you to never consciously link their “good name” back to them, at least not without lots of homework.
Steve Jobs was also a complex, some would say unkind ,soul. Same goes for Tesla. Is it really this hard for people to reconcile the way the world works??
I’m not sure I see the exclusivity. It seems more like “initially” than exclusively.
“Android is a tough nut to crack and the iPad has that beautiful Retina display.”
You do realize the Nexus 7 has a higher quality display than Retina, right? The difference is imperceptible to the human eye but Retina wouldn’t be the reason to go iPad vs Android.
Another important note, he was CTO over a decade ago so has no connection with Surface/current plans.
Disclaimer:
I read exclusivity as “never going to launch elsewhere” but maybe that’s not your intent.
er no, Intellectual Ventures does not own or operate Lodsys. two totally different patent trolls.
Given the harm he does with IV, I see no reason to support anything Myhrvold ever has a hand in. But I do like the idea of Microsoft expatriates developing for other platforms. Perhaps all the executives Ballmer drove away over the past decade could form a team to create iOS and Android apps.
The guy has been out of Microsoft for more than 10 years. He founded MSR in 1991. How is it notable that someone who left the company that long ago has developed an app for another platform?
Thats what they keep claiming, but the patents still trace back to IV and any profit made off the patents still will send a huge share back to IV.
As independent as they may have made it look it still is a “company” with a single “product” that is still at least partially owned by IV.
I hope his app does not offer in-app purchases, he might get in trouble.