Computer industry pundits and government lawyers don't get their exercise from jogging, they get it from kicking around Microsoft, the leading "evil empire" since the Soviet Union called it quits. And much of the abuse is richly deserved. Both the company and its products can be obtuse, unpredictable and enraging. If all the curses directed toward Microsoft over the years had been realized, Redmond, Wash., would be a parking lot of radioactive volcanic glass. But: If there had been no Microsoft, it's safe to say there would be today no personal computer hardware or software industry worldwide — or at least not in its present stage.
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