https://www.engadget.com/amp/2018/10/10/microsoft-open-sources-60000-patents-to-help-linux/

Its a good sign


or the sign of the end times

To paraphrase, M$ infiltrate open source with gifts. Expect nothing good to come from this, there may be untoward nice effects, but I really don't believe that is the real purpose.

There's an old theory that Microsoft has been supporting Linux (and Apple for that matter) for decades in order to have them as the "competition" to Windows (even though their market share is negligible) so Microsoft is not perceived by US lawmakers as a monopoly (and subject to special laws).

I think MS is more trying to protect itself than Linux. Windows is still a bloated mess and a major privacy concern, the Xbox even lacks Vulkan support which keeps pushing devs for DirectX and unless I'm mistaken Linux is dominant in the Server space.

They're a business and I see no reason why they should or how can they be trusted.

This is probably Extend of the Microsoft 3 Es.

Which is the least harmful one, after all.

Also, Microsoft is probably looking to exit the consumer market like IBM already did years ago.

It makes you wonder about Valve vs GoG in that context.

Protect Linux from whom, and why would anyone think the Linux ecosystem is incapable of protecting itself?

Let us see what I can say.

Some patents that MS have made freely available are in MS' interest that they are widespread as to bump out outdated de facto standards.

I doubt the above holds true for all of those patents though. There are other factors in play here as well.

Nearly 1 in 3 Azure virtual machines are Linux.
I guess this explains quite a lot of things here ;)

So... do we get a list? some notable examples? I'm lazy dammit! I can't be bothered going to a search engine and doing all the work for myself.

The truth is quite simple: Microsoft knows that Windows is in decline and Linux is at least not property of Google. The whole company is shifting from a OS developer to cloud service provider. And what's running in this cloud? Make an educated guess: https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-now-dominates-azure/