Oh FFS !
Did ANY of the previous commenters bother to go and read the full text of the announcement ? No, I thought not or you wouldn't have posted the doom laden crap comments you did. For those who can't click on a link and read ...
>>> I told Microsoft that it had to make interoperability information available to open source developers. Microsoft will now do so, with licensing terms that allow every recipient of the resulting software to copy, modify and redistribute it in accordance with the open source business model.
Seems pretty clear enough to me - available on a no strings attached basis.
>>> I told Microsoft that it should give legal security to programmers who help to develop open source software and confine its patent disputes to commercial software distributors and end users. Microsoft will now pledge to do so.
OK, from a 'purity' viewpoint it's a problem, but from a practical viewpoint, an agreement that OSS developers need not fear claims related to patent infringement. Also, as I read it (it's not too clear), commercial developers can either pay the per-license royalty to cover the patents claimed to apply, OR to pay the one-off charge and pay no royalties if they dispute the validity or relevance of the patents. In the latter case, I can see legal action being rather tricky - MS having accepted a one-off fee and then claiming patent infringement on what it's licensed.
And as to Microsoft simply drawing a line and changing the protocols - that's covered too !
>>> That said, Microsoft’s obligation to document its protocols is an ongoing one – the documentation needs to be maintained as its products evolve, and new issues may arise once it is being used by developers.
So there is still a certain amount of risk and/or cost for commercial vendors, but on OSS it's a complete and utter slap in the face for Microsoft who now have no (legal) way to impede OSS projects like Samba from complete interoperability.