lt looks like you are writing from informed position, bt what you are failing to grasp or not ready to tell is that One Laptop per child was not going to use windows as an operating system bt Linux which really angered micro$oft because they were not gong to get an cash out of it. They were not going in to help poor children in Africa, they were going in for money.
They couldnt just stand aside and watch there profits being drained away or not getting anything out of the project, and yes, they did something about it. They offered netbook manufacturers deals they couldnt resist to sway them away from supporting manufacturing of those laptops, and them being profit chasing lot, who cares about starving poor kids in Africa??