When Windows XP is released in a few months, will smaller software companies benefit from jumping aboard the bandwagon or be run over by it?
The long list of new features potentially puts an even longer list of companies in Microsoft's crosshairs, including Adobe Systems, Apple Computer, AOL Time Warner, Corel, InterVideo, MGI, Netopia, Network Ice, RealNetworks, Roxio, Ulead, Zone Labs, Symantec and as many as 20 other companies.
"So those features don't look like much, but then what happens?" LeTocq said. "The next release of Microsoft's operating system comes out with enough features so that for most people they don't need anything else. The range of the market that is addressed by the others' products is diminished dramatically."
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