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In the "I guessed this might happen but I'm kinda sad now that it did" department, MS dipped a pinky in its huge bankroll and paid off InterTrust to go away. For a mere $440 million, it gets unfettered acess to the patents and other intellectual property that are the only living remains of what was once a nice startup. But after buying off Scott McNealy, this is really no surprise. Microsoft has finally figured out that these endless lawsuits are a distraction and it's simpler to pay up and make the bad press go away. Cringely has also joined on the "dear gods with that much money they can buy anyone" train. It's simply not possible for anyone smaller than a government or a multi-billion-dollar corporation to do anything Microsoft wants to do (they'll steal it) or doesn't like (they'll obstruct it and threaten all your customers). http://www.siliconvalley.com/story |