well its probably not much money to microsoft, but to the FSF, which is a completely not for profit organisation, its a lot.
i just can t figure why microsoft would want to contribute even a penny. it can only look bad for microsoft to do that. they publicly claim that the policies of the FSF are unamerican, like a cancer on the software industry, and then they make a cash contribution?
for publicity, it makes no sense. and forget publicity. even if publicity were not the issue, it makes no sense. that s like giving money to your competitors.