>>The first time I learned about that partnership I thought it looked weird from the get go.
>>
>>I told a friend I nominated him for developing the best software of the year. I never did it but I told him just to see his reaction. He didn't say a word but his gesture said a lot. You know the move somebody makes when he wants to strangle someone <g>
>>
>>I'm sure MS figured out that many would be scared by their tactics. But they also probably figured out that some would react by thinking "Yeah cool our software will be demoed by MS. MS would never do anything to hurt our business. And sooner than later we'll be rich wooohoooo."
>
>And also "even if they will cheat us in the end... we may sell the shop before that", "they may just find our software is so ingenious they will want to buy us directly", "they may just make an example of us and make as rich just to show us around".
>
>There's a lot to be said about wishful thinking.

I guess that at some point MS bought some companies by really offering good money. Perhaps now it could look like "Ok sell us your business for 10000$. That's a fair price. Anyway you'll be out of business faster than you think.