Microsoft's Chief Patent Council Bart Eppenauer told The Verge last year that the company monetizes its "currency of innovation" and research and development efforts through licensing arrangements. The company announced the patent tracker initiative in February, promising that it would be ready by April 1st. It debuted earlier today, but was intermittently unavailable, ostensibly due to an error. Microsoft isn't committing to the type of openness that Google and Twitter have for select patents, but it appears to be interested in some amount of increased civility across the patent landscape — at least when it's benefiting itself.