When TomTom settled with Microsoft over a patent turf dispute, it created some interesting repercussions. One of the technologies involved in the tussle was the ancient Windows FAT file system. Funny thing is, even though Microsoft moved away from FAT years ago (in favor of NTFS), tons of devices still use FAT, notes blogger John Carl Villanueva of APC Magazine. These include USB flash drives and memory cards in devices like cell phones, cameras, MP3 players. Linux operating systems that don’t support FAT would become inoperable with FAT-based devices. Therefore, the Linux Foundation is declaring war on the FAT file system — or if not an all-out war, than at least abandonment.
Most Linux distros use file systems such as ext3, XFS, JFS, and ReiserFS. If Jim Zemlin, Executive Director of The Linux Foundation, has his way, Linux distro makers and device manufacturers will be convinced to abandon FAT and go with these alternatives. But that would mean that device makers would be content to abandon Windows as well. How likely is that?
For the more technology savvy Linux user, interoperability with FAT devices won’t likely pose much of a problem. There are projects out there that will convert FAT files to one favored by Linux (for instance a project called, Ext2 Installable File System for Windows ). But this is yet another problem in making Linux the generic operating system for the masses — how many average users are going to want to take on file conversion (like the ancient days of DOS)? Needless to say, the masses are what Linux needs to take on Windows. Linux makers could be forced into licensing FAT from Microsoft. Wouldn’t that be interesting?
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