“Patent trolls are part of the industry today; that’s just the way it is,” he said. “We’ve dealt with them before and we’ll deal with this situation in the same exact way. I’m just very disappointed in this, from a former leader of our industry, that they would do this.”

Benioff’s remarks today echo those he made during a May 20 earnings call, though this time he exercised a bit of restraint and stopped short of decrying Microsoft (MSFT) as a bunch of “alley thugs.”

His message, I suppose, is that Salesforce.com (CRM) isn’t much worried by Microsoft’s suit–though perhaps it should be, given the limited patent portfolio in its defense arsenal and Microsoft’s endgame here. As analyst Rob Enderle wrote last week:

Microsoft wants to set an example and losing isn’t an option. In addition the patents in question are key to being able to defend Microsoft’s existing market making the combination into one of the most important legal efforts that Microsoft is likely to undertake. This means they probably won’t settle, will fund the effort fully, and will do whatever it takes to make it successful. ?

Nobody messes with anyone in the tech industry the way Apple has messed with Microsoft. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen a major national campaign that disparages a competitor, and the competitor just sits back and takes it. If somebody tried to do that to Oracle, you wouldn’t be able to find the body.”

–Analyst Rob Enderle on Apple’s “I’m a Mac, You’re a Dork” campaign

What gets me out of bed and into the office every day is the thought of Ken Kutaragi’s resignation letter, framed, hanging next to my desk.”

–Xbox chief J Allard

Looks like Allard will never get that resignation letter, but perhaps he can make do with a retirement announcement. Thursday afternoon, Sony said that Ken Kutaragi, the mercurial executive behind all four iterations of the Sony PlayStation, will retire in June, his departure presumably hastened by lackluster sales of the PlayStation 3. The PS3 “has been a huge disappointment, No. 3 out of three in terms of console sales,” analyst Rob Enderle, founder of Enderle Group, told News.com. “It’s been a huge embarrassment for the firm, and a huge hole that money has been pouring into. When you go from superstar to walking disaster, there are few executives that can survive that. You’re only as good as your last financial report, and while he was given some leeway (with the PS3) there were obviously some huge mistakes.”

Obviously. Botched launches, embarrassing production shortages and a $600 price point made no easier on the wallet by Kutaragi’s suggestion that we should all want to work a little bit harder to buy one. But let’s not forget that were it not for Kutaragi, there wouldn’t be a PlayStation. As Time Magazine noted back in 2004, “If video games are the storytelling medium of the coming century, Kutaragi is their Gutenberg.“