The problem is that lots of these large companies claim that they are building their patent portfolio purely as a defensive tactic. But then as soon as they have this huge portfolio of bogus patents, they will immediately set about finding ways to stifle competition with it.

So really the 'we only intent our patent portfolio to be defensive' claim applies only to cases where the other company has such a portfolio. And they have no trouble being the bully in cases where the other company can't fire any shots back at them.

This applies to Microsoft specifically, but also to other large corps. So trying to claim that 'Microsoft is just playing that game' and that I should "hate the game, not the player" is ridiculous. Microsoft will perpetuate the "game" whenever it will be financially advantageous for them to do so. They are not filing such patents to 'protect themselves from someone else that might file a similar patent, then turn around and sue them.' They are filing them to serve a dual-purpose. A 'sword' to defend and attack with.