I concur MS has always been at the helm of strangling the competition.. but instead of blaming them for it, I'd like to blame the governments of NA/EU and asia.. the fines they levy on MS.. are peanuts. wer talking bout a company that can lose over$4 billion on a product( the x box brand) and still continue to sell it, for years.. any fine less than a couple of billion is a joke for MS...

I still support the "lets split up MS into 2-3 entities"theory.. it makes a lot of sense.

Apple in my opinion is a lil worse, they contro lthe hardware and the software for their products. I cannot imagine how they would be if they had as much power as MS did.

Some of those aren't anti-competative. They are just smart business practices... The last one is what 1st party games do for consoles...

But when you own >90% of the market isn't it unfair to bundle e.g. IE and WMP? You're keeping people dependent on closed formats. No one else can legally* create programs or OSs that are interoperable.

*For example, WMV and WMA. No one else is allowed to play them without paying royalities to MS. There is a free program (ffmpeg) that can play them but it is illegal in the US.

I disagree.  They just have more capital but lack creativity.

Nintendo and Sony outperform them in Video Games.  Apple outperforms them in ipods/iphones compared to Zune.  MS can only win when it has a monpololy.  Certainly brains are not a competitive advantage at MS.

You can convert them to other formats.

Is it also fair for someone's IP to be freely distributed (and a file format IS IP) simply because other people want to use it on something other than windows?

People have the option NOT to use Windows and therefore you can't use WMV formats natively. Just like if you opt NOT to buy a Wii, you can't (legally) play Super Mario Galaxy.

They have every right to protect their IPs and leverage them to gain market share and make a profit.

Next thing you know you are going to tell me Santa Claus doesn't exist and Doves do die.

1. No you can't, without paying royalties. Tools (like ffmpeg) exist to convert them but are illegal under US law.

2. Yes, but my school (and for example many workplaces) forces me to use WMV and MS Office files and have a computer compatible with them at home. Whereas these places don't require me to have Super Mario Galaxy.

MS can't beat Nintendo or Sony when Nintendo or Sony are performing decently.  Only on an off day.

Actually, this credit goes to IBM for starting the opened architecture PC in the first place since it was they who started this concept then they when to Microsoft for an OS.  It really helped in competing in the hardware business because you had and now have a variety of viable hardware manufactures.  But software it's a different story with Microsoft monopolizing that market.  We'd be further ahead in software if there were more competition in software.

You have no idea how much it amuses me to watch the antics of posters like Soleron, vlad321, and several other posters who haven't posted in here yet.