Tiptoeing through the patent minefield
As everyone already knows by now (I'm writing this purposefully late), an article which included an interview with Brad Smith, General Counsel for Microsoft, basically makes clear that Microsoft wants to continue to push for cross-licensing deals with other patent owners of the sort Microsoft signed with Novell. However, the article also notes that they are willing to throw in "or else" to incentivize people to sign, and royalty payments aren't off the table, either.