The language used by the AC reply to your post was a little bit blunt, but the point is valid - in Apples opinion Samsung was the party that struck first by their unfair actions and therefore Apple would consider that they are acting in their own defence. What you are implying is that any party that seeks redress via the courts must always be the aggressor.

Maybe you have some argument as to why Apple _should_ be seen as the aggressor, but if so you haven't presented it here, you've merely asserted that it's the case. Then again why should you go to the trouble of presenting an argument, after all there isn't a great deal of that around here :-)

You say playing nice, but I prefer to use the word colluding. The status quo always used to be that the previous incumbents would royally shaft their cash cow customers, by contrast we have a lot more choice today. Whether that is due to Android or Apple I don't particularly care, all I know is that it has changed.

The solution isn't to perpetuate the patent system any further with these anti competitive FRAND sticking plasters, it's to put pressure on reforming the whole patent system, getting rid of software patents entirely. The entry fee into any expanded club FRAND will be exorbitant enough so that those big players who are already members can keep new starters out. Only companies that aren't doing very well today would want that.

Or as my dad used to say: "what's yours is mine and what's mine's me own".

I see a lot of these verbose types of argument that fails to get to the point. Yes Apple patents a lot of stuff that shouldn't be patentable. So does google by the way and so does Microsoft and everyone else. A lot of those inventions don't even originate in house either, just look at googles buyout of Swallow for example. However given these shitty rules that they play by are the same for all of them.

All you have done is go off on a hateful rant with nothing to back up those rantings, you have to explain why one company should have to forced to share it's own shitty patents with everybody else. What you've done is made an attack at the patent system and tried to attach Apples name to this uniquely, your words could apply equally to any of the major players. For example does google share its search patents with everybody? I don't know the answer to that but I don't see anybody looking into it round here either.

Does anybody else find it weird when supposedly intelligent people don't even _try_ to see all companies in the same light? That sort of blinkered view must spill out into other areas of thinking, in a way that must hurt reasoning skills.

Don't have a go at the story it was exactly the right thing to post - 500 comments and counting, including yours, prove it. The best way to bury a story is for people to ignore it, but some people just can't get their head around that simple fact.

You may have a point. Regarding MS though, I think that was a cynical and highly artificial milestone with no product to back it up. But probably more newsworthy.

Well have we seen release dates/pricing for Microsoft Surface or Office 2013? I love getting the inside track on up and coming tech - and besides if you don't think it's newsworthy then just don't then click on the story.

And we wouldn't want that, would we?

People aren't so much on the fence about that one though.

That was my thought exactly, that its similar to microsofts tactics. Not good. As for androids status, isn't it only really open to handset manufacturers? I mean unless I wanted to start up a handset company or am in the minority of geeks that like to hack my handset, isn't it true that what the average user ends up with is something as closed as apples platform?

For example nexus looks pretty cool and open but that would be a property of Nexus and NOT android. Similarly the kindle fire is a lot more locked down because that is how Amazon has decided to play. So I'm saying that we're all subject to the whim of the handset and carrier folk - they get the benefit of android not us. Not really seen any counter to this line of reasoning here on slashdot.

How you use your purchasing power is up to you, but you should know that geeks wield an influence of approximately zero. Also slashdot has become institutionally politicised against apple if you look at the kind of comments that are modded 4 and 5, which means that those that would provide a balance of opinion are leaving in droves. Not saying that you aren't entitled to voice your concerns but there is a danger that your arguments won't be strengthened through genuine debate and that there is a lot of preaching to the converted. If that's the endgame then I think it would be a hollow victory.

As for me I am an apple admirer (although not on this issue) and I specifically read slashdot to have my opinions challenged, but more and more I am saddened by the lack of reasoned debate. This is a word of caution to slashdot in general not just your post. For all the good that will do though, as if I have that kind of power!

Potentially insightful but I don't buy it, they have enough clout to play this game of brinksmanship behind closed doors. They haven't come out of this looking good at all.

Insightful 5 lol. Only on slashdot. They fucked up real bad, this wasn't part of some orchestrated marketing campaign. Do you rally think they don't have enough words written about them each day and therefore need to resort to desperate tactics?

Did they honestly ever have a good reputation though in the first place, at least among the tech minded? Anyway it seems to me that they've softened their stance somewhat with a few steps in the right direction, such as not making wild claims about being immune to pc viruses on their website. And requiring third party apps to be signed on mountain lion. And not installing java and flash runtimes by default. And disabling them if they haven't been run for a while. Oh and not creating a significant market for those biggest scareware mother fuckers of all, the virus scanning shysters.

You've presented a false choice, a third option would be to notify apple rather than try to sneak in an app past the terms and conditions. Perhaps it would be ok if I broke into your house in the name of security r&d?