My guess is that Google is thinking the public is the idiot and won’t know they are just laying the ground work to sell their own OS.
That being said I do think Microsoft is in trouble. They simply stopped innovating with the Netscape debacle. Instead of taking Netscape head on with the idea that we will stomp them by making a better browser they got tied up in legal battles and trying to end the life of their competition by any means other than simply making a better product. Microsoft has not had a sense of direction ever since.