MS, Apple, and others were able to develop their companies at a time when software patents were either not allowed or rarely awarded–this allowed these companies to blatantly steal from other companies, just ask Xerox–no apple did NOT pay for a license, they paid for a demo not the IP.

Once these companies get enough money they then push through software patents–”yeah, it’s a good idea because we really don’t make anything and everything we do is pretty obvious once you start down a certain path thus we need to convince some officials that software patents are a good thing.” => cash into pockets.

Every company today should have the same freedom to develop their company that MS & apple had when they first started–without the threat of being bullied by vague software patents.