“When Patents Attack Android.”
That was the headline on the Google post this week that attempted to skewer Microsoft and Apple — saying they’re conspiring to use “bogus” patents in a coordinated campaign against Google Android, to the benefit of Apple’s iPhone and Microsoft’s Windows Phone.
The headline was a hat tip to the recent This American Life episode, “When Patents Attack,” which succeeded in skewering former Microsoft tech chief Nathan Myhrvold — uncovering some game-playing, at least, on the part of his Intellectual Ventures patent-holding firm.
In other words, Google seems to be thinking, Hey, if those public radio people with their pledge-drive funds can challenge these patent shenanigans, why can’t we?
Which apparently led to those fateful assertions that begat Google vs. Microsoft this week. And it has been an epic spat — complete with its very own “gotcha” moment and a smoking email. It’s practically a public-relations war zone.
But it’s far from the first time they’ve fought. Setting aside the patents, here’s a list of significant Google/Microsoft clashes from the past couple years — some of them from just the past few weeks.
July 28, 2011: By anthropomorphizing a Google algorithm (hey, look it up, alright?) Microsoft’s “Gmail Man” spoof sends a message: We don’t “read” your email like the Gmail Man does.
February-March 2010: Google publicly links Microsoft to two companies pursuing antitrust allegations against Google. Yeah, whatever, says Microsoft. A little more than a year later, Microsoft files its own antitrust complaint against Google in Europe.
July 12, 2011: Microsoft executive Kevin Turner rips into Google during a Microsoft sales rally: “This is a company that has a mission statement that they have to remind themselves not to do evil, right?” he says.
[Previously: If Microsoft Bing is Muhammad Ali, this is its best punch]
May 2010: In the build-up to the Microsoft Office 2010 launch, the Google Apps team practices this zinger: “Microsoft Office is a great product, and every business should have a few copies.” Coinciding with the Office release, Google publicly encourages companies to Go Google instead.
February 2011: Google says it catches Microsoft secretly copying its search algorithm to improve Bing’s search results. Microsoft explains that it’s not copying, it’s, um, “watching.” Microsoft calls Google’s Bing Sting a “spy-novelesque stunt.” Sniping ensues.
And, of course, Stephen Colbert weighs in …
