the Devil doesn't change
you do.

Looking at the long list of companies destroyed by their 'partnership' with Microsoft, only the most deluded fool would sign up with them thinking their story will be any different.

As for patents? Prior art exists for all key functions. BSD from 1977, Unix from 1969, MULTICS from 1964. Then you also have the whole VMS chain and the even earlier work. And then there was the whole rip off of Xerox's GUI.

Microsoft has been found guilty multiple times in multiple jurisdictions of a seemingly endless parade of patent violations, theft of code, tax evasion and so on. It's public record. Go look it up.

It is Amazon that pays MS, probably because (as everyone knows) Kindle contains Linux code (and as everyone knows) which contains stuff protected by MS' patents.

See here:

http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/02/microsoft-amazon-patent-deal-covers-kindle-linux.ars

"Specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but it was made clear that Amazon will be paying Microsoft an undisclosed amount of money as part of the arrangement."

That is why make your own devices but there Intel Inside to become a good device.