Has Google wasted $12bn on a dud patent poker-chip?

Re:Has Google wasted $12bn on a dud patent poker-chip? by jobu on Monday August 15, 2011 @01:04PM (#2887694)

Hindsight is 20/20, but Google would have been a lot better off purchasing Sun and all of its patents than Motorola at a $5 billion premium.

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Re:Has Google wasted $12bn on a dud patent poker-chip? by vimes on Monday August 15, 2011 @01:57PM (#2887943)

I don't think buying Sun would have protected Android from Apple/Microsoft/Nokia/etc., just as buying Motorola won't protect it from Oracle. If anything, buying both may have made sense.

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Re:Has Google wasted $12bn on a dud patent poker-chip? by jonknee on Monday August 15, 2011 @02:31PM (#2888090)

Buying Sun would only have helped Google in one of their current court cases (and not one that buying Motorola was intended to help). Hindsight would have dictated buying both.

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Re:Has Google wasted $12bn on a dud patent poker-chip? by nkassis on Monday August 15, 2011 @01:42PM (#2887879)

yeah I've been saying this since the oracle deal. 8 billion looks small now for what Sun was. They would also own Java and other important tech that they could have used a lot more than what Motorola offers them. I wonder if they even tried to buy Sun.

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Re:Has Google wasted $12bn on a dud patent poker-chip? by jshort on Monday August 15, 2011 @04:34PM (#2888558)

It may have been better then being out bought once again.

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[deleted]

Re:Has Google wasted $12bn on a dud patent poker-chip? by Jun8 on Monday August 15, 2011 @04:47PM (#2888630)

"control over most US law-enforcement communication"

No, that's the other Motorola, i.e. Motorola Solutions.

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Re:Has Google wasted $12bn on a dud patent poker-chip? by CamperBob on Monday August 15, 2011 @04:56PM (#2888663)

Ah, good point -- deleted.

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