A couple of years ago, we all thought that Microsoft really had it coming. The monopoly that gave it its power was on shaky grounds. Looking back, I wonder how we could be so naive. The antitrust case was going, and Microsoft would no longer be able to exploit its effective monopoly on desktop operating systems, we thought. But more importantly, there was an even bigger threat coming up which would make that monopoly simply irrelevant: mobile devices. Microsoft's power was based on the vast number of people who used Windows, which focused developer effort on that platform, commentators used to say. However, there was a wave of diverse devices coming, including WAP phones, various thin clients, PDAs and more. Microsoft would never be able to keep a coherent grip on them all, Windows would fragment, and opportunity would knock for its would-be rivals.
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