Although Linspire and Microsoft met eachother in court only a few years ago over Linspire's former name, "Lindows", today the two companies are friends after a deal over patents. Novell and Xandros cut the same deal before Linspire.

• Instant messaging — Linspire will license Microsoft's RT audio codec to promote voice-enabled interoperability between Linspire's Pidgin (formerly GAIM) instant messaging client and Microsoft's instant messaging clients for business, Microsoft Office Communicator, and, for consumers, Windows Live Messenger.
• Digital media — Future releases of Linspire will now support the latest Windows Media 10 audio and video codecs, allowing Linspire and Microsoft Windows users to better share digital media files.
• TrueType fonts — Linspire will license popular Microsoft TrueType fonts, including Arial, Georgia, Times New Roman, and Verdana, so Linspire users have improved experiences creating, editing, and viewing files and documents.

(Source : Linux Watch) Interesting development. In the old days MS used to buy whatever they couldn't wi from - is this their new way of conquering the world ? Opinions are appreciated in the comments !