NI acquires IOTECH

[Neville D]

Looks like NI just swallowed another little fish!

T&M World article

[Michael Aivaliotis]

Looks like NI just swallowed another little fish!

T&M World article

I don't know why but all this buying (and litigation) on NI's part is disturbing me... A can't put my finger on it.

It's like playing the game Civilization. For a while, you try to get along by forming coalitions and becoming a good citizen hoping nobody notices you. After a while, when you have enough gold, you build a huge army and start blowing everyone away.

[Yair]

I don't know why but all this buying (and litigation) on NI's part is disturbing me... A can't put my finger on it.

It's like playing the game Civilization. For a while, you try to get along by forming coalitions and becoming a good citizen hoping nobody notices you. After a while, when you have enough gold, you build a huge army and start blowing everyone away.

Maybe NI is starting to remind you of Microsoft a bit too much - did you know that MS intends to put its Antivirus into the next version of windows? This will probably pose a problem for Symantec and the other players in that market. The question is what will happen when NI and Microsoft go one-on-one. I can already imagine it as a scene from the Might Morphin' Power Rangers (or maybe the Beastie Boys' Intergalactic video) - two giant robots fighting each other, with big sparks appearing around them.

[m3nth]

Good grief.

Well it's not too surprising I guess. I like the Civilization analogy.

I think perhaps what's unsettling from the end-user's perspective, be it with Microsoft or NI or any other giant corporation turned near-monopoly, is the thought of them winding up locked in at a high price-point with few viable alternatives. And whether it's Microsoft or NI or the next big takeover player (Google?), that's exactly where they want you... out of options except for them, with your arm twisted behind your back until it breaks or you say uncle and pay up. No need to mention the many examples of this type of behavior that Microsoft has put forth, especially the latest row they've participated in over the rejection of their proprietary technology by the state of Massacheusetts.

So when it comes to NI, I'd say it's pretty valid if there is a general feeling of disturbance over their acquisitions and growing clout. We have already seen the sometimes heavy-handed tactics used to squash or buyout patent lawsuits, the end result of which has been to limit or completely eliminate competition. If you want out, what viable options do you have? Very few, as the state of Massacheusetts and others in Europe have found. Fortunately for them, there are at least open source alternatives that come close, or at least close enough for them to have a viable/workable alternative. For the growing number of dependents on NI however... it will be interesting to see just how long they will continue to be locked in (in various arenas of available software and hardware of course, not in everything by any means) and how far it will all go, as NI strengthens its grip on the market.

Also (sidenote here on LabVIEW), I can't forsee NI indefinitely escaping the grasp of a patent lawsuit on the grounds that graphic programming is now (with readily available computing power) one of the most common-sense ideas there is, even though it wasn't at the time that LabVIEW was invented (at which time they received a patent for it, on the grounds, among other things, that it was extraordinary, and not such a common-sense idea).

Still though, even if they lost a lawsuit, or if their patent expires (I have a very unclear understanding of when or how that could actually happen), they have still garnered a huge head-start, a set of very mature products, and a large war chest to keep them going for a long time.

Guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens next.

[Mike Ashe]

I believe the original patents for the G language in LabVIEW have expired. Sooner or later, someone will agree with m3nth (graphical programming makes sense) enough that they will start on an independent version of the G language and graphical editor. That could be open source or proprietary, ie, "embrace, extend, take over..." The company that could do that easiest is Microsoft. And yes NI is big, but lets be real here, NI is hoping to become a billion dollar revenue company in two years ... last time I looked, Microsoft had about 40 billion cash reserves they could blow on R&D or patent fights, etc. Do you really think it would be a contest?

[m3nth]

Microsoft had about 40 billion cash reserves they could blow on R&D or patent fights, etc. Do you really think it would be a contest?

Only if it's lucrative enough. And Microsoft, just because they have lots of money, doesn't mean they (like anyone else) wouldn't have lots of catching up to do.

[Mike Ashe]

Only if it's lucrative enough.

I have to respectfully disagree. For Uncle Bill it stopped being entirely about the money when IBM's big-wig manager snubbed them and walked off the stage at the OS2 joint conference decades ago. The next day (or so) MS announced they were doing something independent called "Windows" and its been a battle of honor and territory ever since. Now, please lets not have anyone flame that last sentence regarding whether MS is "honorable", thats not what I mean. Its about Bill's honor. IBM, the big guys at the time, slapped Bill in the face, in public, and he's been on the personnel warpath ever since. Sure Bill is very interested in making lots of billy-bucks [pun intended], but the money is secondary to taking over the territory and making sure no one can ever slap him and his company that way again.

And Microsoft, just because they have lots of money, doesn't mean they (like anyone else) wouldn't have lots of catching up to do.

Here I completely agree. G programming is such a different mind set that a lot of MS (and other companies) software people would not be that productive for a while. In addition NI still has patents on a lot of features we now consider standard in LabVIEW. Only the basic, original patents are old enough to soon expire.

Which reminds me, I have to retract my earlier statement about the original patents being expired. They were filed in 1986, but it took 4 years to award, and some of them were continued, etc, with the result that the original expires in Feb 2007 and the second expires in April 07 and Apr 2001 due to the continuation. So NI will still be in control of the basic G language for some time to come.