Andy,
While I think dotNET has been a classic "Emperor's Clothes" episode, I do believe the Emperor now has a pair of boxer shorts, and a fancy cloak is starting to materialize. ;-) Lets not forget that Windows was just one of the GUI products that surfaced as improvements for DOS. It may not have been the best, but it prevailed. Because behind the hype, MS watched, listened and improved. As the Clintons,said, "fake it till you make it" is a winners' strategy, and who can blame MS for using a winner's strategy?
Regards
j.R
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1