FTFA: "Android is a copycat platform. The APIs copy Java, and the UI copies Apple's iPhone." too true to read!
El Reg should've thrown in something about '... and the kernel from Linux' in there as well, to complete the troll.
Has Google wasted $12bn on a dud patent poker-chip?
11–20 of 40 posts
Re: Has Google wasted $12bn on a dud patent poker-chip?
#12"Google didn't take IP seriously, bidding silly numbers (such as pi billion dollars) for the Nortel patents." Why does everyone keep rehashing this statement that was asinine the first time? How do the specific digits of their bids say anything about Google's stance towards IP? Pi billion is over 141 million more serious of a bid than the 3 billion that I guess would have made everyone more comfortable.
“Google was bidding with numbers that were not even numbers,” one of the sources said. “It became clear that they were bidding with the distance between the earth and the sun. One was the sum of a famous mathematical constant, and then when it got to $3 billion, they bid pi,” the source said, adding the bid was $3.14159 billion. “Either they were supremely confident or they were bored.” Google thought they were playi…
Pointing out the ridiculousness of a system isn't the same thing as crying. Neither is making a serious play in the space with the purchase of MMI. Google can simultaneously believe the system is broken and play the system until it is changed.
Re: Has Google wasted $12bn on a dud patent poker-chip?
#13"Google didn't take IP seriously, bidding silly numbers (such as pi billion dollars) for the Nortel patents." Why does everyone keep rehashing this statement that was asinine the first time? How do the specific digits of their bids say anything about Google's stance towards IP? Pi billion is over 141 million more serious of a bid than the 3 billion that I guess would have made everyone more comfortable.
In hindsight, it's easy to imagine the Google executives bidding fancy numbers while rubbing their hands in glee saying "Haha, lets drive up the costs for Apple/MS and waste their cash while we're anyway going to complain to the DoJ like we did with the Novell patents and the deal to buy Motorola is almost closed. Haha. What next, Planck's constant or the Avogadro number?".
Not that it actually happened, but certainly plausible given what we know.
Edit: New article supporting this theory:
Larry Page Just Made Apple And Microsoft Look Like Fools http://www.businessinsider.com/suck-it-applesoft-2011-8
Re: Has Google wasted $12bn on a dud patent poker-chip?
#14Hindsight is 20/20, but Google would have been a lot better off purchasing Sun and all of its patents than Motorola at a $5 billion premium.
Buying Sun would only have helped Google in one of their current court cases (and not one that buying Motorola was intended to help). Hindsight would have dictated buying both.
Re: Has Google wasted $12bn on a dud patent poker-chip?
#15While the register portrays Google's moves as blundering, Dan Lyon's take is the exact opposite. I suspect it may be a while before we know which is true, although I want to lean towards Dan's view:
http://realdanlyons.com/blog/2011/08/15/suck-on-it-applesoft...
Re: Has Google wasted $12bn on a dud patent poker-chip?
#16"Google didn't take IP seriously, bidding silly numbers (such as pi billion dollars) for the Nortel patents." Why does everyone keep rehashing this statement that was asinine the first time? How do the specific digits of their bids say anything about Google's stance towards IP? Pi billion is over 141 million more serious of a bid than the 3 billion that I guess would have made everyone more comfortable.
“Google was bidding with numbers that were not even numbers,” one of the sources said. “It became clear that they were bidding with the distance between the earth and the sun. One was the sum of a famous mathematical constant, and then when it got to $3 billion, they bid pi,” the source said, adding the bid was $3.14159 billion. “Either they were supremely confident or they were bored.” Google thought they were playi…
“Google was bidding with numbers that were not even numbers,” one of the sources said.
"We bid the sum of --" pinky to corner of mouth "-- NaN billion dollars."
Re: Has Google wasted $12bn on a dud patent poker-chip?
#17Now that Google has sunk $12.5B into the patent system, I fear the fight against software patents has lost it's most powerful ally.
I think it's more the case that Google has to fight both sides of this: acquire patents for defense in the short term, lobby congress for patent reform in the long term. I think long long-term, the friction of the patent system goes against Google's incentives. Google isn't a hardware company (even though they just bought one). They sell search ads, and their complements are hardware, software, everything between con…
[deleted]
Re: Has Google wasted $12bn on a dud patent poker-chip?
#18Now that Google has sunk $12.5B into the patent system, I fear the fight against software patents has lost it's most powerful ally.
I think it's more the case that Google has to fight both sides of this: acquire patents for defense in the short term, lobby congress for patent reform in the long term. I think long long-term, the friction of the patent system goes against Google's incentives. Google isn't a hardware company (even though they just bought one). They sell search ads, and their complements are hardware, software, everything between con…
I'll believe that Google wants patent reform when I actually see them lobbying for it. For now it's all wishful thinking.
Any and all legal expenses and patent royalties in "the short term" would certainly be less than $12B. The Moto Mobility purchase really stinks of long term investment in IP and capitulation before the system.
Re: Has Google wasted $12bn on a dud patent poker-chip?
#19"Google didn't take IP seriously, bidding silly numbers (such as pi billion dollars) for the Nortel patents." Why does everyone keep rehashing this statement that was asinine the first time? How do the specific digits of their bids say anything about Google's stance towards IP? Pi billion is over 141 million more serious of a bid than the 3 billion that I guess would have made everyone more comfortable.
“Google was bidding with numbers that were not even numbers,” one of the sources said. “It became clear that they were bidding with the distance between the earth and the sun. One was the sum of a famous mathematical constant, and then when it got to $3 billion, they bid pi,” the source said, adding the bid was $3.14159 billion. “Either they were supremely confident or they were bored.” Google thought they were playi…
> bidding with numbers that were not even numbers
What does this even mean?
Re: Has Google wasted $12bn on a dud patent poker-chip?
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
“Google was bidding with numbers that were not even numbers,” one of the sources said. “It became clear that they were bidding with the distance between the earth and the sun. One was the sum of a famous mathematical constant, and then when it got to $3 billion, they bid pi,” the source said, adding the bid was $3.14159 billion. “Either they were supremely confident or they were bored.” Google thought they were playi…
> bidding with numbers that were not even numbers What does this even mean?
That the numbers were not small multiples of large powers of ten.