I never thought I'd see this from this particular crowd of companies but here's the basic timeframe for those of you that don't follow this. For years, Microsoft has claimed that Open Source Software couldn't provide a workable business model. In August 2003, Novell (another large software company) began embracing Linux as a solution for it's customers. In November 2006, Novell entered into a patent agreement with Microsoft which led to people complaining that Novell had "sold out." Microsoft says that Linux infringes on their patents, Novell said that they didn't agree but still had a partnership with Microsoft working towards the same goals. And the kicker: Microsoft responded with a press release saying that they and Novell were _Agreeing to Disagree_ on an issue that many see as the core component of the initial agreement! It'll be interesting to see how this pans out.