I still remember the days when Microsoft bailed Apple out, so they wouldn’t go under, and leave them with a monopoly.
Big mistake.
“I still remember the days when Microsoft bailed Apple out, so they wouldn’t go under, and leave them with a monopoly.
Big mistake.”
Au contraire mon ami. It was the best (or, perhaps, the least worse) move Microsoft had at the time. Recall that Microsoft was charged, by the US federal government, with anti-competitive (i.e. monopoly) practices in 1998 (not settled until 2001). The EU was threatening to levy similar charges. Without Apple, Microsoft could point to no serious competition, in the operating system market.
Microsoft is doing just fine! Their market capitalizatin is $529 billion.
You recall differently than I do. I seem to recall Microsoft having to pay a settlement to Apple for patent infringement.
It was no way a "bailout"! It was Microsoft paying Apple what it owed them to settle a patent and copyright infringement LAWSUIT! The $150,000,000 was merely a downpayment on the settlement. You can find and read the three interlocking agreements settling that lawsuit on the internet.
If anyone bailed another out, it was Apple bailing out Microsoft. In the early days, Steve Wozniak wasn't building a floating-point BASIC fast enough for Steve Jobs liking, so Steve struck a deal for Microsoft's floating-point BASIC for the Apple II. Microsoft was barely getting by, and the Apple money allowed Microsoft to stay afloat. As for later times, Microsoft stole Apple secrets and was sued. Apple never stole or took anything from Microsoft that wasn't part of a lawsuit payout. Over the last couple decades, Apple helped Microsoft make money by creating partnerships with Microsoft, to the consternation of Apple loyalists.
Not a big mistake. Apple and Microsoft are mutually beneficial.