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And the landscape is littered with companies that bet against Microsoft.

That was back when MS could use coercion as a 'marketing' tactic. They didn't sell products to consumers, they went to retailers and leaned on them to offer only MS products or else suffer retaliation. This is no longer possible.

MS has never won a capitlist 'free-market' competition. Their products are always also-rans. They've always used clout to leverage their products -- the contract with IBM, Windows with Word, Excel, IE, etc.

When forced to compete, they don't win.

In my experience. Then again, this opinion was worth exactly what you just paid for it. Time will tell. MS certainly will not vanish. They'll remain a big company. But their control and monopolization of the tech industry is a thing of the past. And that's a good thing for capitalists.

That was back when MS could use coercion as a 'marketing' tactic. They didn't sell products to consumers, they went to retailers and leaned on them to offer only MS products or else suffer retaliation. This is no longer possible.

Please tell us, Harr, how Microsoft beat Lotus 1-2-3. Or Novell (a server product). Or ccMail. Or WordPerfect. Want me to go on? Did MS use coercion to beat these companies? If so, how? MS has never won a capitlist 'free-market' competition. Their products are always also-rans.

See above. Remove finger from rear-end.

When forced to compete, they don't win.

See above. Remove finger from rear.

In my experience.

And we all know how much that's worth. Zippo. Especially on matters dealing with antitrust, cryptography, and .NET.

Then again, this opinion was worth exactly what you just paid for it. Time will tell. MS certainly will not vanish. They'll remain a big company. But their control and monopolization of the tech industry is a thing of the past. And that's a good thing for capitalists.

Get used to their dominance, Harr. They'll be around long after Sun has auctioned off all their real estate and computers.

Denial is a dangeous place in Egypt.