This is Microsoft trying to invalidate a patent they don't like, not them "trying to lend a hand". It just happens to overlap with our interests. Which is exactly what they should be doing, as a corporation.
I think the possibility that MS might be trying to do the right thing here, for everybody not just themselves, is reasonably high and shouldn't be dismissed. At the end of the day MS is a developer centric company, they pride themselves on the ability to make things, and patents are an annoying side show to that.
MS vs. TomTom
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/chewing-the-fat-in-the-m...
MS vs. Salesforce
http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2341-microsoft-patent-trolls-...
But I digress... Currently Microsoft isn't doing anything evil. Making software patents harder to get is clearly a step in the right direction.
But it's far from Microsoft saving us all from software patents.
Heh, heh: http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_on_the_issues/archive/2...
No longer true.