It’s not that straight forward ...
Ummmm..., it was certainly "that straightforward" -- but probably not in the way you're thinking.
It was "that straightforward" as soon as Steve Jobs came back to the company. There's the key to the whole thing -- right there...
At that point (even though there was a settlement with Microsoft for their stealing of Apple code), it wouldn't have made any difference in regards to a settlement -- with Steve Jobs running the show from that point forward. :-)
Jobs has now instilled "right thinking" back into the company, which was unfortunately hampered prior to that time, by people who didn't know how to "think different"
Like in inferred, if Microsoft knew how Apple was going to rebound, they may have made different decissions.
I guess we are in general agreement here. ; )