Interesting that the tone here when it's Apple suing over flimsy multitouch, pinch-to-zoom and design patents that look like a rectangle(and demanding that they stop production, not even ask for a licensing fee) is they're protecting their innovation, but when it's Microsoft it's all about a evil monopolist.
Reminds me of the argument that Apple's winning because they derive the most profit out of the phone business inspite of Android's marketshare, but Apache's winning in the web server business inspite of Microsoft making the most money out of it.
Actually, a lot of us (or at least, me) are opposed to Apple's lawsuits as well. The fanboy crowd (of any group) tends to make a lot more noise than the majority.
My stance on the Apple patent mess has been that they're making legal use of bad patent laws. Hate the laws that allow those patents, not the patent-holders.
Microsoft, on the other hand, is going above and beyond just exercising patent rights that shouldn't exist. Asking someone to sign an NDA before you will tell them which of your patents they're infringing is so despicable that this should be an automatic win for B&N due to the doctrine of unclean hands.
Well, Apple, to be fair, seems to be doing it's attack in the public. Microsoft on the other hand it trying to backstab Android.
But I currently hate both companies for the bullshit they are pulling. What happened to building better stuff and winning? Seems Microsoft gave up on that a long long time ago (did they ever make the best of something? all I can think of is the first couple Word and Excel releases)
To add to that: I do feel Apple's lawsuits are a problem. But if we're going to make any meaningful progress, we must start with software patents.
Microsoft's dealings with Android manufacturers offer a golden opportunity to set the precedent that could invalidate software patents in general.
That's too big an opportunity to miss.
Apple's patent suits are (unfortunately?) relevant and modern patents... it's harder to get a foothold against what Apple is doing. Or, in other words, since my viewpoint is not the only viewpoint, I don't see as clear a case that we should invalidate Apple's suits. They have some merit.
Reminds me of the argument that Apple's winning because they derive the most profit out of the phone business inspite of Android's marketshare, but Apache's winning in the web server business inspite of Microsoft making the most money out of it.