B-B-But I thought that Microsoft was only acquiring patents to protect itself from evil other companies that would have patented these things and then sued Microsoft! They were supposed to be defensive patents... </sarcasm>
No, I'm pretty sure Microsoft has been "evil" for a long time. We're talking 25+ years of non-stop "evil". :-) They destroyed Borland, WordPerfect, Lotus, Netscape, etc. They forced every PC maker to pay for Windows even if they didn't ship Windows on the hardware. They bought the Sybase source and made a cheaper SQL Server product, that essentially killed Sybase. They still have 90% of the desktop OS market, and their "Open Document Format", really isn't that open. Web browser innovation took almost a decade to recover, once they destroyed Netscape, and people still feel the need to support the very non-standard IE6. Recently they bought Nokia, essentially killing more choice in smartphones. Ok, get the idea? Great American capitalists that destroy all competition. :-)
Anyway, even if Microsoft makes money from Android, having Android creates more choice. That's really what consumers need because it reduces costs and spurs innovation.
Quite the opposite in fact. MS has been rather blunt that they haven't been pleased with Linux's use of what they believed was patented technology and that they'd take action. IMO, the real question is what took them so long, since the first threats were made years ago.
With that said MS has never threatened anything beyond Linux, at least that I can recall. Linux appears to have a special place in their heart.
One of the most famous examples of this is Amazon (search for "amazon patents" on Slashdot), but of course there are other examples too like Sun/Oracle.
Anyway, even if Microsoft makes money from Android, having Android creates more choice. That's really what consumers need because it reduces costs and spurs innovation.