I suppose the difference that I see here is that Microsoft is making phones and tablets, as opposed to patent trolls that don't even plan on leveraging the pate

I suppose the difference that I see here is that Microsoft is making phones and tablets, as opposed to patent trolls that don't even plan on leveraging the patents they own. But yes, I agree that that probably most of these patents should be considered too general to be considered unique inventions. "Slide to unlock" comes to mind.