Externally, Microsoft doesn't have a choice but take the matter seriously - enough negative press, and they'll have to respond, so this is not really surprising.

I'm really curious to find out how they handled this issue internally, though (as unlikely as it is for us to ever find out). Given the size of the company, and the often negative portrayal of it in the startup and other bleeding edge technology communities, I find it surprising to see anything like this make it into the public eye. It gives me hope for finding a cool core of hackers hiding in a dark corner somewhere, with free hand to do as they please and generally do fun, cool, stuff.