Bonum Certa Men Certa

Why and How Microsoft Turned from a Software Company Into a Patent Aggressor/Taxman

Summary: Timeline of Microsoft's patent plotting

WE KINDLY ask readers to weigh in and fill the gaps (missing milestone events). Here is what we already know.

1991: Bill Gates explicitly says that he dislikes patents.

1998: Microsoft is said to have lost $18 billion (source: The Economist) because the business model did not scale well. The company had some savings, but the company's direction was not clear (still isn't) and it may already be in debt [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. More recently, the company pressured the American government to print more money and pass it over to private hands, namely corporations in distress [1, 2, 3].

1999: The Gates Foundation is created to serve as a tax haven and bank account for investments of interest. Like many other charities of its kind, it is conveniently disguised as philanthropy while acting as a vehicle that advances personal agenda. Gates personally invests in patents trolls too (see below).

2000: Gates speaks/spoke to his colleague -- Nathan Myhrvold -- about addressing the problems with software profitability and related conundrums. Patents came up as a solution. Myhrvold told the press last year that he had come up with Intellectual Ventures (IV) after negotiations with Gates and it's clear that this founder dislikes GNU/Linux. Gates personally invests in IV, which already extracts revenue from patents (so does Microsoft).

2004 Asian governments decide to move to GNU/Linux, so Microsoft threatens to sue them over patents.

2005: A software patents directive in Europe gets tossed despite heavy lobbying from Microsoft, which continues that lobbying effort to this date.

2006: Microsoft signs a comprehensive patent deal that directly aligns itself against GNU/Linux. Novell is the first company to subscribe to this.

2007: Microsoft threatens to sue Linux vendors and already blackmails some (without disclosures made), based on admissions in the press.

2008: Gates turns out to have its own patent harvesting/trolling firm [1, 2]. There is more than one participant in this.

2009: After a long period of betting on patents, Microsoft brags about receiving its 10,000th patent.

2009: Microsoft sues a company over patents in Linux and admits to 'taxing' other companies using the same patents.

That's just the short story about patents at Microsoft -- a story which needs a lot of work before competition, so readers' help is needed. There are worse patterns of behaviour which some people would characterise as organised crime by a "political movement".

"Sadly, many of these brilliant people have been blinded by the stock price and unable to see that Microsoft is also the key architect of the greatest financial pyramid scheme this century.

--Bill Parish

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft-Sponsored Xenophobia and Nationalism
IBM is very similar in this regard
Tentative Summary of Things to Publish in Project 2030
I'll still be in my forties by then
 
Links 21/09/2025: "Hey Hi" (Hype) Under Fire, Fakes Identified; Tesla Burns Family
Links for the day
Google's Software is Malware and Malware in Mobile Devices
Originally posted by Rob Musial
Links 20/09/2025: Hegemony Coming to a Close, Luigi Mangione Ruled Not Terrorist
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/09/2025: "Charlie Kirk Was a Hateful Piece of Shit" and Slop Code Attempted by Microsofter
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 20, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, September 20, 2025
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Snowy Photos and utism is a Spectrum
Links for the day
Vintage is Sometimes Better
Why can't we get back to "simple" if (or where) "simple" means better?
Climate Breakdown Means We'll be Publishing More, Not Less
Press freedom will be a common, recurring theme
Our 5-Year Geminispace Anniversary is Coming Up
I still remember when Gemini Protocol was quite new
It's Right to Point Out Violence From the Right
Violence is a recurring theme
Web Browsers That "Do Hey Hi" (AI)
State-of-the-art plagiarism or "autocomplete on steroids" (not coined by us, nevertheless a nice description) don't have much/any prospect
Links 20/09/2025: Hardware Projects in View, Some Independent Publishers About Russia Prosper After Cheeto Cuts Funding
Links for the day
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Options and TV Time Machine
Links for the day
Links 20/09/2025: Retrocomputer, Antique Phone Experience, and More
Links for the day
Links 20/09/2025: Internet Shutdowns, Media Censorship, and Climate Worries
Links for the day
About 700 New Gemini Capsules in 13 Months (or 54 Per Month)
4.8K would represent a 20% increase
Rust People: Drain the Swap, You're Holding It Wrong
Does Rust make sense?
Techrights the Name Turns 15
About 6 weeks from now we turn 19
Microsoft is Running Out of Time and Floating Fake Figures, Fake Projects, Fake Narratives, Fake Excuses
Also, a lot of Microsoft's "revenue" claims are circular financing (i.e. Microsoft buying from itself, which means Ponzi-like fraud)
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, linuxconfig.org, and Plagiarised Phoronix
Many articles out there are nowadays fake
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 19, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, September 19, 2025
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Navigating the Pressures of Modern Life and SpellBinding Accidentally Wrote Another Gemini Server
Links for the day
Links 19/09/2025: Press Freedom Dying in US, Anti-Austerity Strikes in France, and Alan Rusbridger to Leave 'Prospect'
Links for the day
European Patent Office Illegally Gutting and Outsourcing Its Functions, Acting Like an Above-the-Law Commercial Business (It Won't Stop at Formalities Officers (FOs) and Classification Slop at the EPO)
breaking/violating laws and conventions
Offloading to the Sister Site
In the interest of not overwhelming readers
Links 19/09/2025: Coffee Club and "SpellBinding is Now Absurdly Fast"
Links for the day
Links 19/09/2025: Lobbyist of American GAFAM Becomes Data Protection Commissioner in Europe
Links for the day
Links 19/09/2025: Media Freedom Ceases to Exist in US, "Consider Dropping Twitter/X"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/09/2025: Thinking and Insect Bites
Links for the day
Microsoft E.E.E.: Git Will Now (or Very Soon) Fully Depend on Rust, Which is Controlled by Microsoft
Microsoft now makes Git dependent on Rust, or making Git dependent on GitHub, which is proprietary
The Right to Punch People (Apparently)
At Brett Wilson, Brett's job title is "Head of Crime" and Wilson normalises calls for violence
Slop or Fake Articles Have Turned Linux Journal From a Pioneering/Trailblazing "Linux" Magazine Into a Nuisance
some sites with former reputation - good reputation - turn into cesspools
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 18, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, September 18, 2025