no, this is microsoft "embracing" (buying control of) a huge point of centralization in a software distribution ecosystem, positioning them to have greater power over a huge number of developers.
The way people think Microsoft's embrace of open source, GitHub, and now NPM is genuine is completely ridiculous. Microsoft had to change because much of where the action was is on *nix systems. Microsoft will start to use these companies to make developers embrace Microsoft services. It's only a matter of time.
Banning python from Github? Requiring \r\n for NPM packages? What's the move you're afraid of?
I still think this is good news, given where npm is coming from, but it's certainly not risk-free.
Until we come up with better trusted federation protocols there will be natural monopolies, but that doesn't mean they get unchecked power. We have laws for that.