This is only obliquely related to Google. As Microsoft pressures competition regulators in Europe to crack down on Google's ventures, it certainly has to have a more politically palatable stance on competition and anti-trust.
October 22, 2007 Microsoft Concedes in European Antitrust Case By KEVIN J. O’BRIENBERLIN, Oct. 22 — With its legal options running out, Microsoft bowed today to pressure from the European Commission and agreed for the first time to sell some confidential computer code to rivals at nominal cost, ending a 32-year-old practice of designing closed systems to bolster its competitive advantage.
In a groundbreaking decision with far-reaching implications for the $50 billion global server market, Microsoft agreed to comply with terms of the commission’s 2004 order and sell its server software protocols — the digital keys that rivals need to make their software work with Microsoft’s own — for minimal compensation. ...
Comments (1)
I disagree, there is a very direct correlation. Consider the following from WSJ.com: "A spokesman for Novell Inc., which distributes a variant of the open-source Linux operating system, said the company would be looking closely at the proposed licensing scheme, though he said it was too soon to say whether Novell would take the licenses." I think that much of the capitulation was motivated by a desire to buy off as much of the 'maybe we'll run with Linux' crowd as possible.
Consider that Linux makes this possible:
http://www.googlizationofeverything.com/2007/10/routing_around_microsoft.php
Which could effectively render MS Windows obsolete and crown Google Master of the Universe.
Then consider Microsoft getting a room with these guys:
http://www.sivacracy.net/2007/10/whats_going_on_here_a_scary_in.html
Combine that with your point about working with EU regulators, not against them and you have the rough outline of a grand strategy.