Hacker News Reader

For example, they could offer to buy the patent from the current holder, and finance an attack on their competitors.

But they chose a higher road.

Countless other companies in their position would pay the settlement and sign an NDA. We can never know the extent of this problem unless companies like RackSpace speak up.

Yes, it is also an indicator to me that if I am a RackSpace customer, and other issues come up (could be patents, could be government surveillance, or something else) that will affect me as a developer, Rackspace is more likely to be on my side than against me.

Obviously, I expect Rackspace to pursue its own business self-interest, but often there are multiple ways to do that, and not all of them are win-win for both the hosting company and for its customers.

It may be both. And since Rackspace is loudly publicizing that their actions are based on their beliefs, if they were to ever act contrary to their established brand, they'd lose even more than if they were to do nothing at all.