● 05.21.12

●● AOL Helps Microsoft Infiltrate, Harm Open Source Communities, Feeds Facebook With Google-Hostile Patents

Posted in Microsoft, Patents at 7:18 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Microsoft is preying on AOL funds and patents

LAST month we saw and covered “Microsoft’s $1 Billion AOL Patent Buy” which was widely covered and publicised in the business press and beyond (leading to a price surge of AOL shares). An AOL investor said that the $1bn Microsoft patent deal was not good enough and he was right. AOL gave its patents to Microsoft probably in part because former Microsoft staff had taken positions of power inside the company, as we showed some years ago. It’s entryism. See again posts such as:

we saw

↺ “Microsoft’s $1 Billion AOL Patent Buy”

↺ widely covered

↺ publicised

↺ in the business press

↺ beyond

↺ a price surge of AOL shares

↺ AOL investor said that the $1bn Microsoft patent deal was not good enough

First It Was Yahoo! and Now It’s AOLAOL Escapes MicrosoftAOL Takeover by Microsoft is Just a Rumour from One Unnamed SourceAOL Denies Being Open to Microsoft Takeover, Ruby on Rails Founder Calls Microsoft a “Buffoon” (and Formerly “Gorilla”) Due to Its CEOMicrosoft Vice President Quits, AOL and Glam Poisoned

AOL does not stop at patents; it now helps the Microsoft proxy which seeks to disrupt the real Free/open source community. Microsoft booster Mary Jo Foley helps the spin (“AOL joins Microsoft as sponsor of Outercurve Foundation” says her headline).

↺ helps the spin

Generally speaking, to be passing around patents like weapons is always a bad idea and this practice should ideally be banned (more on that later). Here are very recent examples of patents passage in ‘non-retail’ quantities (bulk transfers).

↺ very recent

↺ examples

“Facebook use the same AstroTurfing firm to smear Google. Now they share patents, too.”What we failed to highlight last month is the fact that Microsoft’s good ol’ buddy got a share of the ammunition from AOL (via Microsoft). How blatant. This helps Facebook carry on with its patent hoarding and aggression while removing threats to itself. To quote a new article, “Facebook Inc. (FB) (FB), owner of the world’s most popular social-networking site, won an appeals court ruling that invalidated a software company’s patent for a network that lets users communicate on a large scale.” (source)

↺

hoarding and aggression

↺ source

Here are some articles about Microsoft passing patents to Facebook. Had former Microsoft managers not run AOL (entryism), would Facebook have gotten those patents? This whole exchange of patents there poses a threat to Google not just because of Netscape patents (against Chrome and Android) but also patents that jeopardise Google+, Facebook’s #1 rival. Facebook use the same AstroTurfing firm to smear Google. Now they share patents, too. █

↺ some

↺ articles

↺ about

↺ Microsoft passing patents to Facebook

use the same AstroTurfing firm to smear Google

“When people understand what Microsoft is up to, they’re outraged.”

–Tim O’Reilly

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