The problem is that MS has such an amazing record of strategic underhandedness, it would take many years of consistently good behavior for me to trust their intentions.

By the way, exactly _which_ of their patents do they claim Linux violates, and exactly what data are they collecting from Windows 10 boxes?

I think they are less doing good and more scared shitless that they put off a huge swath of computer savvy users with their forced upgrades and mandatory tracking. The nuggets they throw to the dev/unix communities are smoke and mirrors. Strategic pleas of "please don't abandon our creaky ship!"

It's always one step forward, two steps back with Microsoft.

Every time I start to warm up to them again, they make me feel stupid shortly afterwards by blowing it.

It's an abusive relationship, in a sense.