NO, there biggest accomplishement was to be here at the right place, at the good moment, at the end of the SNES area.

i agree even though i admit i am a sony fan boy but this is going out of control if it was not for microsoft we would be on those BS like computers (not apple) i mean all the other cheap ones and u guys gotta admit MS did evolutionize (or watever) computers around the world so u gotta give MS some love and hate... :P

@OP:
You see things in a wrong perspective: if MS really managed to copy Mac OSX, we could even start respecting Windows!

Yes for one thing: to have beat sony in 2 generation on this market

i hate M$ cuz is not original at all i still dont understand why people buy their products but o well each person is different

Respect

–noun
esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability: I have great respect for her judgment.

As one of the most successful businesses EVER, one must respect MS whether you like them or not (unless you misunderstand the definition of respect). And I think thats the key point here, these are businesses we are talking about. Of course they will lie, and cheat, and copy (mostly all in a legal manner though) to get ahead, and they should, because the consumer is the one who wins in the end. What else do you think competition is about?

Now you don't have to respect them in terms of honesty, or taking care of the costumer, but as a company, you should respect them, and all other successful companies.

Do you think Sony was inspired by the Wii for their wands?
Do you think Burger King was inspired by Mc Donalds?
Do you think Pepsi was inspired by Coca Cola?
Do you think VW was inspired by Toyota?
Do you think VGC was inspired by IGN?
Do you think facebook was inspired by myspace?

This is regular business. Of course you see what your competition is doing and you try to learn from them.

No, they don`t.

i dont see M$ learning about game consols the difference here is that xbox made a console with a big problems(RROD) and is the second one i dont see M$ learning something but ill agree something with you M$ does great ads but thats pretty much it

Progress is improving old ideas with new ones. This is the way of the world and it is the way it has always been.