Yes and no. Your post makes it seem like this is the first time anyone has heard of Steve Jobs threatening to sue.
Apple sued Microsoft over Windows, then got Microsoft to invest and commit Office to Macintosh for 5 years + $150 million to settle litigation between the two companies.
Jobs threatened to sue former CEO of Sun over a prototype desktop environment[1]
This is unfortunately a side effect of living in a world where software and software ideas can be patented. It is a shame that Steve Jobs resorted to this kind of bullying to get what he wanted though. Seems very childish but pretty in-step with how he was portrayed in his biography.
Apple sued Microsoft over Windows, then got
Microsoft to invest and commit Office to Macintosh
for 5 years + $150 million to settle litigation
between the two companies.
It was more than that. Apple was seen as the only 'credible' competition to Microsoft in the OS space. If Apple went under, Microsoft was absolutely going to get smacked with an antitrust lawsuit by the government. As it works out, they did anyway, but I think that a $150mm deal on non-voting shares (which were later resold at a profit) was seen as a no-brainer sort of move.
Apple sued Microsoft over Windows, then got Microsoft to invest and commit Office to Macintosh for 5 years + $150 million to settle litigation between the two companies.
Jobs threatened to sue former CEO of Sun over a prototype desktop environment[1]
[1] http://jonathanischwartz.wordpress.com/2010/03/09/good-artis...
This is unfortunately a side effect of living in a world where software and software ideas can be patented. It is a shame that Steve Jobs resorted to this kind of bullying to get what he wanted though. Seems very childish but pretty in-step with how he was portrayed in his biography.