On the surface, Microsoft’s new patent is a way for the company to release a smartphone that dual-boots Android and Windows Phone, but that description doesn’t do the patent justice. When you look harder at the patent, something truly impressive can be seen. By the sound of it, Microsoft has patented a way to run multiple operating systems based on the functionality that you need at the moment.
Microsoft has recently received a seemingly important patent related to operating systems and the way they run on mobile devices. Many jumped at the opportunity saying the company was patenting dual-booting Android and Windows Phone on the same device, which though true, is a very simplistic approach and doesn’t do this patent any justice. We take a much closer look and explore what Microsoft is actually doing. United States Patent number 9,003,173 was awarded to Microsoft two days ago, being titled “Multi-OS (operating system) boot via mobile device”. In it, Microsoft engineers and lawyers describe a way of using multiple operating systems to provide different functionality on mobile devices. But that’s not the same as simply dual-booting Android and Windows, as many were quick to report.