Mitch Kapor uses his personal fortune to create free software he says will outdo Microsoft Outlook. BELMONT, Calif. - Trolling the high-tech waters in search of the next big thing, legions of software entrepreneurs have learned, the hard way, to steer clear of Microsoft Corp.'s main turf: platforms for the personal computer. The overwhelming bulk of the profits from operating systems and office productivity software flows to Microsoft, which sets its own pace for improving those applications. Few start-ups can find profits in this business that the world's largest software maker dominates.
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