>>http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2355644,00.asp
>
>dead-end investments. Remember WebTV?, MS-Bob? Microsoft Home? Microsoft at Work? FoxPro? Microsoft Money?
>
>Do all those really belong together? :o)

Belong to whom?

(I never quite got around the concept that "to belong" doesn't necessarily imply ownership)

But, what Hank said - it was money M$ threw away without any serious intention to make money on it. The acquisition of Rushmore, and keeping up with the Joneses (A-T, then Borland) were tactical business moves, not a long-term investment that would bring profit in the future. Once it served the purpose (outclassed dBase IV, Rushmore extracted and retrofitted into SQL, ADO, Jet or wherever), came the morning after - a product with fundamentalist disobedient believers which maybe sells more Windows and SQL and is a pet of certain military and govemmental important customers, but... do we really need to be seen with it in public?