Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) success has always been about its alliances: Bill Gates lining up Basic licensees, the 1980 deals with IBM and Seattle Computer Products and (most importantly) licensing the IBM-funded DOS to all of Microsoft's competitors.

With declining PC revenues, Microsoft is using its $50+ billion cash hoard to buy friends. The Redmond company has created alliances with Nokia (NYSE:NOK) and Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS) in the hopes of gaining a footprint in smartphones and low-end tablets. But in doing so, both companies have (for better or worse) placed their platform bets on Microsoft's (thus far) losing hand.

As part of my studies of Nokia's smartphone strategy, I've been following the Microsoft-Nokia deal for