>>The problem as described in Scott's post is that middle management (the lords) answers only to itself when the prince (Ballmer) is weak. This is all-too-typical for large corporations, and hasn't changed since Machiavelli documented the phenomenon.
Ballmer's inclination seems to be to promote Windows, since he;s been around long enough to know that it's OS that made MS what it is. If he were to act on that, I wonder whether he'd cancel the cross-platform heretics, or whether he'd simply Fox them, or whether he'd get them all wound up in turmoil and disillusionment. After all, as long as people buy the OS, MS's aspirations still can be met.
"... 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
