>MS dropped products that people were making a living on (eg VB, Silverlight, VFP)

And now those same people can make a living upgrading old VB, Silverlight, VFP apps too.

>Google dropped projects
>
>>Ummm... dropping products isn't a factor. Google has done it and maybe more than Microsoft. http://fox.wikis.com/wc.dll?Wiki~GoogleBandWagon~Wiki
>>
>>
>>>Time to market remains the key success factor.
>>>Once market focus attention on competitors, there's very few you can do, especially when you've undermined your image like ms did over the years (monopoly abuse, IE sucks, Vista, dropping products one after another, etc.).