It's actually funny how naive a lot of these "elitist" users posting on these forums are. First, any company that has a patent, will try to cash in. It's not a matter of being evil or good, it's just business .. get used to it! Second, I find it very entertaining how everyone posting on such forums thinks that implementing any software is trivial. Well, guess what, it's not! And it becomes much more complicated when you need to start taking factors such as battery life and efficiency into your design. Also Google gives Android for free, but charges for Google Apps. Sure you can get an Android phone without Google Maps or G-Mail but would you want that? I guess no, and these are not free for manufacturers. That's in addition to the "patent fees" mentioned in this article.
In any case .. keep on with all the Microsoft hate and Google love. After all, calling something "open-source" immediately makes it cool and trendy in these places, doesn't it?