If you count the beginning as the time between OS/2 1.0 up until MS released Windows 3, then it makes sense. IBM understood Microsoft would continue to collaborate on OS/2 more or less forever.
As an outside to all the history and lore… IBM is probably one of the most confusing companies I can think of.
As an outside to all the history and lore… IBM is probably one of the most confusing companies I can think of.