The Gates Legacy
>Microsoft is renowned for making its partners, and not just itself, rich ..
There is a graveyard somewhere littered with companies who one time engaged in a 'partnership` with Microsoft, once all the original technology was assimilated the company through litigation, is reduced to a discarded shell, with the former enployees hired on to Microsoft.
"Dear Bob: I had hoped it would work out for you to join Microsoft, and create a California development center for us", Bill Gates Dec 1987
"Microsoft is interested in exploring potential business oppurtunities relating to the GO netebook computer", Feb 1989
"We're preparing a proof-of-concept demonstration for early June .. Both Jerry and I are very interested in your thoughts and comments on GO's plans", May 1988 Robert M. Carr V.P Software GO Corporation
"Next Steps 1) LF to spend more days @ GO to soak up GO tech", May 1989 [hand written note px00091.pdf]
"Dear Andy: I guess I've made it very clear that we view an Intel investment in Go as an anti-Microsoft move", June 1990
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20050704045343631
> Phelps talks about IP in a way that would almost certainly sound foreign to former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, who liked to actually build products, not just IP
Microsoft owes most of its sucess through engaging in barely legal cohersion of the OEMs that gave MS a virtual monopoly on the desktop, and allowed MS to dictate to the OEMs what they (the OEMs) could do to sell their (the OEMs) hardware product. Microsoft's current difficulties is that they are unable to sucessfully carry out the same strategy on the mobile market.
From the historical record Microsoft under Gates, expended most effort engaging in shady legal practices, tieing up the OEMs in exclusive contracts and in 'innovating` product most similar to others already on the market.
"We have to stop putting any effort into this and make sure that Office documents very well depends on PROPRIETARY IE capabilities", Billg Gates Dec 1989
"Given that we are looking at the Internet destroying our position as the setter of standards and APIs do you see things we should be doing to use ACT assets to avoid this?", Bill Gates Apr 1995
"What features do we need to steal?" [from ClarisWorks], Feb 1998
"We need to follow Apple to a large degree .. Need to pick up key features added by Apple", Ebbe Altberg Feb 1998
"At some point we will have to consider the patents they [Star Office] violate", Bill Gates Dec 1998
http://edge-op.org/iowa/www.iowaconsumercase.org/
http://www.groklaw.net/staticpages/index.php?page=2005010107100653