Microsoft's Deals with Linux Vendors

Whether through fear or great salesmanship, Microsoft has inked two more deals with Linux vendors -- and they are sure to profit from them. Xandros and LG Electronics have signed intellectual property agreements with Microsoft so that they can be protected in case there ever is a lawsuit due to patent infringement claims. To me, this sounds like the old mob strategy of protecting the small merchants so that they will not have "accidents." Microsoft is using fear to make money. Interestingly, they have refused to come through with specific patents that would come into play. Many of us are sick at the prospect of Microsoft making money from the efforts of thousands of volunteers that have made GNU/Linux and Open Source products possible. We have the power to send a message to Microsoft and those that succumb to Microsoft's fear tactics. Will the message be that there are no limits to how much Microsoft can absorb and control? Or will the message be that we have had enough of their FUD and we are done with them and anything to do with them? I choose the latter.