I'd like to think so, but if a situation presented itself where it was a choice between angering developers and angering shareholders, I wouldn't bet against the shareholders.

Eh, maybe for a different company.

Another part that plays into this is that you _have_ to patent something, or someone else will. Google pretty much had to register a patent or face getting pwnt someday.

Yep, I think you hit the nail on the head.

You really have to do "defensive patenting" when you are this large or you might face problems when another person patents a key technology your business relies on.

I don't think google would ever pursue this patent against another company, because it is doubtful it will stand up in court. As such it probably would win a court trial if another company patented the tech, but it is much cheaper to just patent it yourself, stick the patent in a drawer, and continue taking over the world.

Not just the development community as a whole, but how many of their own developers would just walk out the door.