Is it just me or is this actually genius? Mutually assured destruction has been the name of the game for big companies for a while now, but that wasn't practical for small players. If Microsoft is willing to take small companies under its umbrella, it could be quite effective and helpful. Seems like what they actually do is provide you the opportunity to buy a hand selected legal weapon, but that threat may well make azure a little safer for small companies and startups. Will Google and Amazon feel pressured to follow suit?

Of course this doesn't work against patent trolls, because they have no products to sue over. As long as Microsoft doesn't start threatening to sue companies that use aws or something, I have to applaud this move.