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Ok, I think I understand your perspective better and have more respect for where you seem to be coming from.

IN Taipei, *ALL* as in *******ALL******* the professional computer people I interacted with; met at church; counseled at the counseling center; taught as students--

--IF--

they had *ANY* CONTACT with Microsoft officialdom at all, they characterized them as:

RUTHLESS--as in merciless, EXTREMELY OVER THE LINE demanding--DEMANDING ALL THE BENEFITS for little cost or responsibility on MicroSoft's part;

--as in using all manner of thuggery sorts of intimidations to get Microsoft's way. etc. etc. etc.

--as in squeezing every other player on the scene relentlessly so hard, so ruthlessly as to squeeze them and all their employees out of existence whenever possible.

Despotic seemed to be a mild description of MicroSoft's SOP the way most of them told it.

They spoke of MicroSoft and the devil in very similar terms and tones. And it was intensely visceral. It came from relentless, repeated experiences with Microsoft over years. The stories didn't get better. They tended to get worse over the years.

I was taken aback.

I never had ANYONE there stand up or speak up for Microsoft in a positive way. They *ALL* hated the company.

Not because it was successful.

Not even because of Gate's arrogance though that was not a fun thing to the Chinese by any means--but because of the destructively ruthless, selfish--all his benefits at all your costs way of doing business.

And if he couldn't get you this time around, he'd redouble his resources, efforts and covering all the bases to get you every direction the next way around. There was never any real coming out even, much less winning with him.

Can you understand my perspective?

I hated seeing wonderful people bloodied so repeatedly for doing honorable jobs, reasonable jobs.

Once upon a time IBM was "the devil" and everyone hated them. I liken the situation to mom-and-pop stores that compete with Wal-Mart. True, the mom-and-pop stores really don't have a chance. It's just massive economies of scale at work. It's like trying to compete against a tidal wave.

I personally have not been on the receiving end of getting hosed by Microsoft, so I have never suffered personal indignity at their hands. So, it's less personal for me. Everyone has their own perspective. It's true that Microsoft's aggression has pissed off many people.

However, I disagree that nobody else has had a chance to take Microsoft down. I'll stir the pot here, and say that Microsoft's rivals had many opportunities for competitive parity, but they have continually dropped the ball. To wit:

Netscape: 23-year old CTO Andressen claims that Windows is nothing but a "poorly debugged set of device drivers".

Pioneers boneheaded "give the product away" strategy, embraced by many dot-coms in the following years to disasterous effect; results in virtually zero revenue for the company. Complains loudly when MS does the same thing and gives away IE.. but their crappy browser can't even compete on the Mac platform. Now Netscape is a stupid web portal for AOL/TimeWarner/CNN. James Clarke retires to Florida a rich man.

Apple: Dropped the ball so many times it's ridiculous. Allowed an ex-softdrink man to be the CEO, stalling the company for several critical years, allowing MS to catch up and pass them. Accused MS of stealing their technology, (when they both stole it from Xerox PARC, see below). Company leadership described as a "kleptocracy". Company nearly destroyed when MS launches win95; MS invests in Apple (2000) to save company. Jobs returns (see NeXT). Now they have OS X and a fighting chance -- will they screw it up again?

Xerox PARC: The suits thought that no one would be interested in a PC w/ a graphical interface and a mouse. Xerox currently under criminal investigation for accounting irregularities.

Amiga: Nifty graphics but a platform that does not make.

SGI: See Amiga. CEO/founder Jim Clarke goes to Netscape.

NeXT: Steve Job's hubris, circa 1992, destroys a chance for a viable PC alternative for large corporations. Jobs insists on CD-RW, no floppy. Original version didn't even have a hard drive. Black and White monitor. Hires expensive dean of Yale school of design for stupid logo. Accumlated hubris and design pretentiousness results in a $10,000 machine that everyone wants, but nobody has the money to buy.

Now it's 2002 and it's being resold as OS X. Massive port of all Apple apps. Microsoft laughs its ass off.

IBM: Dropped ball by giving Microsoft MS-DOS royalties, using generic parts in their PC allowing Compaq to make the first clone, etc. Ex-tobacco man saves company. Company invests $1B in Linux.. stay tuned. IBM is actually making some very smart moves now. By planning to drive the cost of consumer software to $0 with Linux, they can keep their enterprise middleware proprietary, thereby moving the "for-profit" software market to where IBM has its core strengths -- enterprise business and services

Sun: Scott McNealy religiously anti-Microsoft, cameo appearance in "antitrust", the irony is that his company is getting nuked by Linux! Falling into same proprietary hardware trap that nearly destroyed Apple. Net-PC flops (see also Oracle).

Oracle: Egomaniac Ellison attempts to turn database software company into major Microsoft competitor. Net-PC flops. Still good at databases. Caught hiring thugs to rifle through Microsoft's trash.

DEC: Alpha chip and VAX karma nukes company. Bought by Compaq.

Data General: DEC competitor in the good old days. Tries to sell DGI machines to compete with Sun. Marketing genius bets company on campaign that compares flagship machine to a pizza box. Company tanks.

HP: Once a leading technology innovater, now a stupid printer/ clone PC manufacturer, merged with Compaq.

THE WINNERS:
Intel: Of course

AMD: Plays it smart and clones Intel chips, wins key court cases, achieves comparable influence.

Compaq: Played it smart, did not take MS head-on, and wound up buying/merging with largest tech companies of the 90's, achieves comparable influence.

Adobe, Symantec, Macromedia, Intuit, etc. - Software companies that were able to successfully compete by making outstanding software!

IBM is still a massive competitor to MS in several arenas. They are a solid company with a lot of cash, due to sound fiscal management, and some very smart, competitive people working there.. stay tuned

Software and technology is a high-stakes game. I don't worship Gates any more than I worship a giant steamroller, however I realize that a giant steamroller will consistently win against smaller vehicles.

Thank you for reading. Check out my film "Eyes Wide Shut" - because I never got to see the final cut.

Kubrick