Computer Guru microsoft

That's not really true - theoretically anyone who feels that Microsoft is dictating Mono's direction and isn't happy with that is free (under the terms of the GPL) to go off and maintain their own, Microsoft-free fork of it.
Obviously Microsoft wants nothing more than the success of its Windows platform. They're not going out of their way to make .NET and Silverlight available to non-Windows users as we discussed at length here.
For Windows developers, .NET is really almost 100% free. The free Express Edition development tools cover almost all needs; and .NET is an excellent technology for Windows developers focusing on Windows users. But the only Windows lock-in truly there is the lack of MS-sponsored "encouragement" or contributions to spreading it to other platforms.
Of course, given a choice between Java with whom Sun Microsystems is taking an active role in distributing builds and tools for non-Sun environments vs. .NET with Microsoft going out of their way to make sure that Windows is the first and foremost target; the logical choice is sticking to Java - can't fault you there.
But for Silverlight.. the only other choice is Flash. And Adobe is very stringently pro-MS/Windows as well (Mac excluded), though one would expect that to change on this new playing field.
It's the Linux world's fault that the Linux world hates Miguel. He has done a lot of hard work with (what seems to be) noble intentions at mind and heart; and the Linux world really does stand to benefit by accepting his contributions. It doesn't have to be .NET or Java, it can be both, and Mono is the way to there.
But, as we mentioned in the article and you repeat in your comment, the biggest problem is with the consumer base. The net's most-popular sites use Flash; and even if it isn't universal, it's been around long enough that it works "OK" on non-MS platforms... it's good enough; and that's the big obstacle for Silverlight (again, technical (dis)advantages aside).
Bottom line: Silverlight is a viable alternative to Flash in concept, but not when it doesn't have much more to offer and arrives a decade after Flash. If MS were to actively maintain an open-source Linux-compatible branch, perhaps that would help knock Flash off its roost, but as things currently stand, yes, Silverlight has failed to reach its original goal. Back on topic: based on these facts, MS is indeed taking desperate measures.