There's this push/pull kind of relationship in all sorts of areas. I interned as an Intel performance engineer working with Microsoft products and it seemed to be the case where you'd try really hard to get Intel products into the relevant Microsoft labs so they'd tune against your hardware vs. another vendors.

It gets even more complicated when factoring OEMs in as the Intel/AMD Microsoft/Linux causes all sorts of arenas where you're cooperating in some areas, competing in others and trying to make sure you've got enough leverage to not be beholden to anyone by playing both sides against each other.

It tends to end up being good for the consumer even if it is a bit convoluted at times.