Late last year, MED featured an article by Logic PD's Alan Cohen arguing that “Android is the best operating system for many medical applications." Android, Cohen said, “aims to bring to the Linux/free software world the same out-of-the-box, ease-of-use found in Windows CE,” a full-featured operating system for which royalties must be paid. Google does not charge a licensing fee for Android.
 
But Information Week reports that Microsoft has been hammering out agreements with manufacturers of Android-enabled devices to collect patent fees for Microsoft-owned technology the company says is contained in the Android platform. According to IW, Microsoft is looking for $15 per Android phone shipped by Samsung, and it already receives $5 per phone from HTC. One site, unwiredview.com, predicts that in a few years, manufacturers of Android products could be paying $60 or more in patent fees to Microsoft and other companies.

What do you think, is Android still the best option for some medical applications, or does this change things?
 
—Jamie Hartford
 
Correction: An earlier version of this blog post ambiguously stated that Android is free.