Microsoft’s patent for the File Allocation Table System has been one of many largest weapons of their patent arsenal. In the early 2000s, they wielded this bludgeon reasonably indiscriminately and managed to extract billions in patent royalties from OEMs in lots of components of the world, even when these corporations didn’t use Windows.
exFAT was initially launched to supply bigger quantity limits and produce higher efficiency for the “hundreds and millions” of SD playing cards and USB flash drives utilizing the file system.
While third celebration exFAT implementations for Linux have existed, it has not been clear whether or not these implementations aren’t encumbered by Microsoft’s patents. Today, nonetheless, we’ve a brand new, higher and reformed Microsoft- and we all know the corporate loves Linux.
Microsoft has now introduced that it has launched an official exFAT driver for Linux, explaining that they needed builders to trust within the authorized security of their implementation.
Microsoft defined its determination to assist the event of exFAT compatibility right here:
It’s necessary to us that the Linux group could make use of exFAT included within the Linux kernel with confidence. To this finish, we will likely be making Microsoft’s technical specification for exFAT publicly obtainable to facilitate improvement of conformant, interoperable implementations. We additionally assist the eeventual inclusion of a Linux kernel with exFAT assist in a future revision of the Open Invention Network’s Linux System Definition, the place, as soon as accepted, the code will profit from the defensive patent commitments of OIN’s 3040+ members and licensees.
Linux builders had been lower than enthusiastic with the discharge, complaining that Microsoft has principally re-implemented Linux kernel’s present FAT driver *badly* as an alternative of constructing exFAT on prime of the motive force.
We are positive, nonetheless, that having an formally supported first-party implementation of exFAT remains to be very worthwhile.
View the exFAT file system specification from Microsoft’s web site right here.
