I saw this post on alt.windows-me today, and thought I should share.

> I can not believe that users of a forum such as this
> one would actually think that they should have broken up microsoft. If
> you went to the store and bought a package of hot dogs, and the
> company also had a baking division and for every package of hot dogs
> that you purchased, they gave you a bag of hot dog buns, would you sue
> to have that baking division split from the parent company?

If we were to apply your moronic analogy to the hot dog business, it would look more like this…

Microsoft would produce 90% of the world’s hot dogs, which could only be cooked on Microsoft grills, served with Microsoft buns, and seasoned with Microsoft Ketshup and Mustard. Competing products could only be purchased in expensive little gourmet stores, or by standing in line at a free soup kitchen.

Most people would buy Microsoft hotdogs, even though they preferred other brands, because unlike in the good old days when there was a large selection, the other brands were now hard to find, and they couldn’t be cooked on the now ubiquitous Microsoft grills or served with Microsoft buns or condiments.

Most restaurants would serve only Microsoft hotdogs and related foods, again because of pressure from the company, in spite of many customers’ preference for other brands. They would be bound by contract to only use Microsoft cooking equipment and supplies.

Whenever a competing company created a new and popular hotdog, Microsoft would start giving away their own inferior hotdogs for free until the other company went out of business, and then return their prices to their usual high and ever increasing levels. Eventually, everyone realized that it was impossible to succeed in the hotdog business regardless of how good your hotdog might be.

Another popular tactic useful on gullible customers was the addition of questionable features to their hotdogs, such as built-in ketchup, mustard, buns, and later, beverages, toothpaste, and breath mints. Most people agreed that these extra products did not belong bundled inside hotdogs, that they didn’t work as they should, and that they simply tasted awful, but the supermarkets and restaurants were pressured to buy and sell them through corporate arm-twisting and massive marketing campaigns.

MS would demand that supermarkets sell only their hotdogs and buns, or else risk losing their wholesale pricing on their products, and also risk receiving these products after all the other supermarkets, after the hotdogs and buns were already going stale.

For as long as they could remember, hotdog buyers had expected to receive frequent-buyer and discount coupns on their hotdog purchases. But later, with MS citing the desire for smoother cash flow patterns, they would require hotdog buyers to commit to buying their hotdogs at regular intervals for at least two years. Anyone who didn’t agree to this would have to pay a ridiculously high price for their hotdogs in the future and would not be eligible for the usual coupons and discounts that had been standard in the food industry for ages.

I could go on and on with this…