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Asustor add exFAT support - provided you pay Microsoft for it

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RMerlin

Asuswrt-Merlin dev
Asustor added support for exFAT, however to enable it you have to purchase a licence from Microsoft:

https://forum.asustor.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9388

exFAT is such a racket. Why the world didn't go with one of the numerous open-source alternatives to replace FAT32 is beyond me. Microsoft must be making a small fortune from SD cards and USB thumbdrives manufacturers from that licence.

You'd think the industry would have learned their lesson after the GIF and MP3 debacles of the past.
 
ASUStor is not alone in this. exFAT license for Synology is $4.
 
Whilst agreeing wholeheartedly with Merlin's comments, I wonder whether Asus providing an exFAT option might be described as grudgingly.

I imagine that Microsoft hopes (expects?) that most manufacturers would just absorb the cost of a blanket licence covering all their customers. By moving the financial decision ($3.99) to the end user they are probably minimising the revenue stream heading Microsoft's way.
 
Whilst agreeing wholeheartedly with Merlin's comments, I wonder whether Asus providing an exFAT option might be described as grudgingly.

That's Asustor, not Asus BTW, just to be clear.

I imagine that Microsoft hopes (expects?) that most manufacturers would just absorb the cost of a blanket licence covering all their customers. By moving the financial decision ($3.99) to the end user they are probably minimising the revenue stream heading Microsoft's way.

I see a similar situation in Kerio Connect (a mailserver product that I sell/manage for some of my customers). A few years ago, Kerio started charging a separate licence for Activesync support (which is pretty much essential for any serious deployment IMHO). Once again a small but steady revenue stream going into Microsoft's pockets.

Someone also once posted some numbers related to Microsoft's revenue stream tied to Android-related licensing. Microsoft is making a small fortune these days with all these licences.
 
Are you sure it's Microsoft and not Tuxera that is selling the license?

ASUStor is a different company, but ASUS has a big stake in it.
 
The press release doesn't mention Tuxera only Microsoft, so I guess it is MS. Seems a bit strange that they would develop something new when they could have gone to an existing 3rd party.

ASUSTOR and Microsoft, Expanding NAS Functionality With exFAT

ASUSTOR Inc. has partnered with Microsoft to launch our new exFAT driver app...
 
Surprisingly enough, it's developed by Asustor (I just installed the app to check its content). It's also implemented as a userspace daemon rather than as a kernel module, which is even weirder. Unless the kernel module only gets downloaded/installed once you buy the licence.

I suspect Microsoft provides complete driver code to anyone licensing it.
 

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