Stop Blaming Trolls for the Patent Problem

No.

The article makes several references to "licensing" and "pricing." These are euphemisms for shakedowns.

Patent trolls shakedown developers with patents that never should have existed in the first place. Why should a developer have to pay ANYTHING to a patent troll? Why should a developer have pay ANYTHING to defend themselves against a patent troll?

The only solution is to eliminate software patents. Entirely.

Very very well said. IMHO, Microsoft is as much patent troll as some of these NPEs given its aggressive use of patents (such as its ex-FAT patent) against competitors.