SCO implodes

[Reese Tora]

out of confusion didn't Microsoft rip it's initial windows software from Apple computers while they were subcontractors or something?

Microsoft did 'steal' it's initial software, Q-DOS(renamed to MS DOS), and sold it branded to IBM, but I believe that it was bought very cheaply rather than outright theft.
Wikipedia backs up that statement.

[Tapewolf]

Ah, but it was always said at DRI that Patterson stole bits of QDOS from CP/M in the first place (in a strange twist of fate, DRI was later purchased by Caldera a few years before they went mad and turned into the SCO that we know and hate today).
The story goes that when it went to court, Kildall entered a command into MSDOS and got a message back like "(C)1976 Digital Research Inc".
This was said to be the reason Microsoft never sued DRI over DRDOS, because they knew they wouldn't have a leg to stand on.