I thought I'd post a couple of links to explain my original post a little better.
The first is a comment made by someone regarding a senate enquiry into microsoft, it's not an article just a comment to an article but it explains the situation of MS Dos quite well
Microsoft vs. Congress: I think I should explain things better. The company I am talk
The second is regarding Microsoft vs Borland. It's quite long but I'll post a couple of quotes from it regarding how Microsoft removes competition and avoids being 'Technically' classed as criminal
Conspiracy Theory: Microsoft's .Net IS Borland's Product Quote:
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In exchange for a desperately needed $125 million cash infusion, Borland gave Microsoft the blueprints for much of its key technology, let Microsoft off the hook by settling long-standing patent disputes, and agreed to tie its own tools even more tightly to the Windows operating system. Inprise agreed to provide full access to more than 100 of its technology patents, including spreadsheet technologies and pending patent applications related to newer products. This transaction signified final victory for Microsoft in an epic battle to control the desktop database and development tool businesses.
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Quote:
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In the suit Borland alleged that Microsoft had hired 34 Borland employees over the past 30 months in order to steal Borland trade secrets. Borland also claimed that Microsoft offered and delivered expensive lures to Borland workers. In two cases, incentives topping $1 million were involved.
According to the suit:
• Among the defecting workers were Paul Gross, Borland's senior R&D VP, and Anders Hejlsberg, a major player in the development of Borland's technology.
• Microsoft offered Paul Gross a $1 million signing bonus, stock options, and title to real estate near Microsoft's headquarters. He left Borland for Microsoft in September 1996.
• Microsoft offered Anders Hejlsberg a signing bonus of $1.5 million and stock options. Microsoft doubled the bonus to $3 million after Borland made a counter-offer. Hejlsberg left Borland in October 1996.
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I know most of this is unimportant to end users of windows, but to software developers or website designers it's very important.
For example, if Borland hadn't been interfered with by Microsoft, we would already have the situation that a computer program could be developed on any platform (Windows, Linux, Mac ...) and it would work on any platform, transparently.