Where is IBM?

Since the announcement of the Microsoft and Novell deal more than two weeks ago, I noticed that IBM didn't make a single public statement whether they like it or not. I'm little surprised about this as most people in the tech industry know that IBM makes most of its money from Linux. Why are they holding back? I see three possibilities here, there may be more but at the moment I only see three....

• IBM doesn't think that this pact between MS and Novell will do any harm to Linux or the FOSS community in general. Maybe they think that no matter how much Microsoft pushes to hurt Linux, Linux is here to stay, they won't be able to destroy it.


• IBM just wants to sit back and wait to see how things will play out and hopes that if the Redmond lawyers are stupid enough (which I doubt they are) to start a legal battle over intellectual properties against Linux, it can rise up with its huge patent portfolio and slap Microsoft in the face. Remember back in the days when Microsoft pulled out the plug on OS/2 cooperation? This was a huge blow in the face to IBM and ever since then, IBM has been looking for a way to give it back to Microsoft. IBM embraced Linux not only because it saw benefits for its own, but also to somehow hurt Microsoft for what it did to OS/2 and its present monopoly on the market.
  


• A last point could be that IBM is just afraid to make any statements about the deal at the moment because they very well know how sleazy Microsoft can be when it comes to manipulating new market places they enter. IBM is just unsure what to do at the moment.

Again, there may be more possibilities, but at the moment I can think only of those three. As for Microsoft's patents, I really doubt if all of them are even valid. Last time I checked, Microsoft holds a patent on scrollbars. When did Microsoft invent the scrollbars?