I found a video on the Novell-Microsoft Interop Ability page that clears up for me at least part of what Microsoft wants from deals like the deal with Novell. The video is from Brainshare 2007, with Novell's Jeff Jaffe and Microsoft's Chief Research Strategy Officer Craig Mundie both onstage talking about the deal. Mundie said that Microsoft has traditionally innovated in two ways: primarily inhouse but also by bringing in research from academia. Microsoft wants a bridge, Mundie said, to the Open Source business community like the one it has traditionally had with academia.
Just what is that bridge Microsoft has had with academia, I wondered? What does Microsoft have in mind for Open Source businesses that sign up for that bridge?