The most important aspect was Microsoft settling code stealing court case with Apple. It never was Microsoft saved Apple story to begin with, even in 1998

https://www.theregister.com/1998/10/29/microsoft_paid_apple_...

"David Boies, attorney for the DoJ, noted that John Warden, for Microsoft, had omitted to quote part of a handwritten note by Fred Anderson, Apple's CFO, in which Anderson wrote that "the [QuickTime] patent dispute was resolved with cross-licence and significant payment to Apple." The payment was $150 million."