I agree, it's not the same MS.

Just don't forget about the royalties MS charges from Android manufacturers as well.

They might be on the right reinvention path, but they're still a giant company, and one to be respected.

Where is the evidence that this is not the Microsoft of 15-25 years ago?

What was going on 20 years ago at Microsoft?

    * implementing POSIX application compatibility to compete with UNIX for gov. contracts
    * giving away IE
    * embrace and extending Java

Compare to today

    * additional compatibility with tools typically used in Unix administration
    * giving away windows
    * Objective-C/Cocoa support for Windows applications

The steps they were taking didn't seem bad until the end game was obvious, but they started out very similarly to the current initiatives. A lot of the actions seem exactly like 20 years ago - do whatever it takes to get market share, make it incredibly difficult for that market share to migrate.

Are we talking about the same Microsoft? That Microsoft, that was bullying MPs in UK (http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2409808/microsoft-b...)?. That one, that lobbies in India against their policies (http://techrights.org/2015/05/29/microsoft-vs-india/)?

Yeah, but incomplete .net on github, yeah!

Embracing, extending, and ...?