10.25.07
Banned Microsoft Commercial Shows the Effect of Patent Armageddon (Updated)
…Not exactly a patent Armageddon, but what makes this violent advertising an excellent example is the fact that, unlike cold wars, no real weapons are involved (only junk patents).
It can hopefully be understood how this relates to a patent maze that involved many parties such as OIN (IBM, Oracle, Google, etc.), incognito patent trolls, Novell, and Microsoft.
This commercial led to a big storm in the media when children at a school mimicked it (used it as an example). This could end up deadly because any fake game can be seen as real from afar.
Update (26/11/2007): the video above has been removed. Here is a link that works with an embedment (streaming Flash) below.
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.
Scott Mace said,
November 26, 2007 at 6:22 pm
YouTube has removed this video. Any idea where to find it now?
Roy Schestowitz said,
November 26, 2007 at 6:37 pm
You’re right. It seems to have been removed. I’m updating this blog item to include a reference that works (see second embedment).