The AARD never worked in a shipped version of Windows. Stop getting worked up.
And Netscape made plenty of big mistakes, including this one http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html
Not to mention that the code was hugely bloated, that Mozilla Firefox is still trying to fix, after ~15 years. An OS that didn't ship with a browser would be laughed out of the market.

There are plenty of such stories about Apple or Google too, but they're not pushed like the MS ones seem to be.

For example, see how Google squashed Skyhook
http://www.theverge.com/2011/05/12/google-android-skyhook-lawsuit-motorola-samsung/

Aliyun and Acer prevented from launching a phone because of the secret rules of the "Open" Handset Alliance.
http://www.zdnet.com/cn/report-google-stops-acer-from-launching-aliyun-phone-in-china-7000004246/

Apple and the famed 30% cut of even sales from Apps, an example of how they used someone's OSS code in Safari and then banned them from the app store:
http://blog.readability.com/2011/02/an-open-letter-to-apple/

Yet you hate on MS and think of Google as a savior. Tell us, what is YOUR interest against Microsoft that you're spreading lies and FUD? The fact that your posts are modded up is the reason that Slashdot is losing readership as even the circlejerk echochamber gets bored with the same hating posts and posters.

Everytime I dig into claims like this, I come away disappointed in the abject FUD that was both absorbed by such posters and the propagation of it, resulting in more people believing it.

AARD was activated only in a late beta. It didn't do anything in the final version

From Wiki:

How exactly did this contribute to the collapse of DR-DOS when it never stopped one DR-DOS copy in the final Windows 3.1 version that actually shipped? Hurt contributions to Computer Science? Hyperbole much?

It's sad that your post is modded up by clueless moderators, and it will continue to propagate ignorant lies and FUD that Slashdot is known for. Not sure if you're just ignorant or just spreading FUD, and I don't know which is worse.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Android-Rooted-best-apps-superuser,18313.html
Users who have rooted are comparatively very less, so it's an uphill battle if you're trying to make money from your apps that need root.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/10/googles-iron-grip-on-android-controlling-open-source-by-any-means-necessary/

Nice joke. Chromebooks are "selling" because Google is giving them away.

If MS really wants to push the OEMs, they'll just make Surface laptops, desktops and Ultrabooks and then double the OEM prices for Windows. If you think the OEMs are hurting now, you should see what happens then.

It isn't necessarily better. For example, you have a lot of system level software under Windows that you can't even sell for iOS and on Chromebooks. And on Android, your users need root before using them, which very few people have. Not to mention the 30% cut of all revenue on both the big mobile stores. In people's rush to hate MS, everyone's promoting even more restrictive software and data being stored in the cloud which users have no control over.

Linus says it best: Microsoft hatred is a disease
http://www.osnews.com/story/21887/Linus_Microsoft_Hatred_is_a_Disease

They don't get a free pass, just wait for the court to set a rate, and Apple will pay Samsung the amount that the court decides, including past damages. Part of the FRAND obligation is to make it difficult to ban products.

The reason was that Samsung's patents were standards essential FRAND, which means they agreed to allow them to be part of a standard in exchange for lesser royalties and harder to seek injunctions. Apple's patents were not FRAND.

How can I replace my OS X trashcan icon with a small Mac Pro?

  http://jonathanhirz.com/macprotrash-icon/

Read the links I posted. Google has no say in what Jolla does, but it potentially stop certifying or revoke access to OHA to any OEM that ships Jolla phones.

Thought it was going to get banned like Aliyun because of the stories below.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/14/3335204/google-statement-acer-smartphone-launch-aliyun-android

http://www.theverge.com/2011/05/12/google-android-skyhook-lawsuit-motorola-samsung/

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/10/googles-iron-grip-on-android-controlling-open-source-by-any-means-necessary/3/

Anyone know if Jolla phones are banned from being made by the Android OEMs because they're using a third party jvm for compatibility?

The official blog post is almost entirely content free, except for "expanding the role in OIN", not sure why this is newsworthy exactly, except for Google to make PR noises about being open while locking out FOSS from the real things like Chat, Hangouts, Docs, Android forking, and forcing Google+ on everyone etc.

How many of the thousands of Google patents are they actually pledging to OIN? 50%? 80%? 1%?

If you want to read a more interesting take on patents and Google, there is this article. http://www.technologyreview.com/news/521946/googles-growing-patent-stockpile/

Today I learned, 100 million copies in ~6 months is DOA, according to Slashdot.

So why not apply that to my post as well instead of judging it by looking at my previous posts? If you think someone gets paid to post on this dying site, you are completely mistaken, at least in my case.

Anonymous users calling registered handles paid shills is exactly like pot calling the kettle black. I dared to put a handle on my post and I am taking the karma hit, while you're just taking potshots while being too cowardly to even register or use your real handle. How can you call into question my comment history while making sure yours is not visible? You're probably a paid Google or Apple shill trying to hide their many postiive comments about them !!!