While it is fun to bash on now and assume things were different in the "good ol' days", the conversations around software patents and the complaints from developers in the field about large companies were the same then as they are now; any difference is only attributable to more fervent journalism playing up the battles, as well as the rise of legal play-by-plays of court cases.
For some evidence, back in May 2000 people on Slashdpt were up in arms about Microsoft nigh-unto patenting package management; the conversations were newer (Slashdot was maybe "Web 1.5"), but even back then I had to point out this wasn't really new: take any patent you don't like, start tracing back the references, and you realize IBM or Xerox probably patented the basics back in the 80s.
For some evidence, back in May 2000 people on Slashdpt were up in arms about Microsoft nigh-unto patenting package management; the conversations were newer (Slashdot was maybe "Web 1.5"), but even back then I had to point out this wasn't really new: take any patent you don't like, start tracing back the references, and you realize IBM or Xerox probably patented the basics back in the 80s.
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/00/05/05/1033208/microsoft-pat...
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=5330&cid=1089815