[CodeMonkey]

The free market will drive software forward. If and when Linux or Mac offer a product that consumers find meets their needs better than MS, it will sell.

That of course rests on the ability of Microsoft's competitors to be able to legally make software that can seamlessly transition their data from MS's products to theirs. Microsoft owns patents on most of its technologies, therefore it would be easy for them to make it cost prohibitive to make a product that can make switching easy or even possible.

[Poser]

"That of course rests on the ability of Microsoft's competitors to be able to legally make software that can seamlessly transition their data from MS's products to theirs. Microsoft owns patents on most of its technologies, therefore it would be easy for them to make it cost prohibitive to make a product that can make switching easy or even possible."

I'll need a better explanation. I can sit down and write a program and as long as I don't copy Microsofts code or style, they can't do anything about it. Am I missing something here?