Both companies made good moves in the beginning. Once they both got up and running it became more of a market thing. Yes, both MS and IBM flexed their muscles to get their way but that's the nature of business (we've seen it before, eg: Standard Oil, AT&T, IBM, etc). There were (and still are) alternatives to consumers out there, including Apple, but due to bad management decisions they lost that fight. I just can't attribute MS's 25 years of success to buying DOS alone, nor Apple's failure to regain market share based solely on alleged illicit-business practices on MS's part. I'm not saying either of you implied that, but it just seems to be...there...when discussing MS & Apple.
Both companies made good moves in the beginning. Once they both got up and running it became more of a market thing. Yes, both MS and IBM flexed their muscles to get their way but that's the nature of business (we've seen it before, eg: Standard Oil, AT&T, IBM, etc). There were (and still are) alternatives to consumers out there, including Apple, but due to bad management decisions they lost that fight. I just can't attribute MS's 25 years of success to buying DOS alone, nor Apple's failure to regain market share based solely on alleged illicit-business practices on MS's part. I'm not saying either of you implied that, but it just seems to be...there...when discussing MS & Apple.