Doug,

>>I don't recall, but I think I mentioned MS software failing because it used an undocumented feature in a DLL. I'm not 100% certain that it's the case, but I can't think of anything else that would cause. Remember Microsoft Fax? It came with Win 95. It won't run properly under Win 98. The fix is to replace the MAPI32.DLL in Win 98 with the one that came with Win 95. It's even documented in the MS KB.
>
>Hmm.. For some reason I seem to recall that they put some kind of backdoor code into a product and someone found it out and exploited it. I've got to think that MSFT is particularly touchy about this kind of stuff right now. <g>

In thinking about it, I seem to recall that there was a claim that MS had stuffed a bunch of NO OP instructions into some of their products for the Mac. Have not idea whether or not it was true.

>>
>>>Then, what's the government's case? I still think that a lot of this is political.
>>
>>>*shrug*
>>
>>To sum up the government's case (and probably badly< g >) it basically revolves around MS supposedly using its position in the marketplace to gain dominance for a particular product. In this case it's the browser. The contention being that by tying it to the OS, they sought an unfair advantage. If this is true, then wouldn't you agree that the remedy is extreme? Certainly, I may be being simplistic in my summation, but my recollection is along these lines. I certainly don't recall any indication that any other products were involved.
>>
>>Political? You bet.
>
>
>I think you pretty much nailed it. What gets me George is that this kind of behavior is applauded in smaller companies and disparaged in larger ones. Every company out there worth their salt will use its position in the marketplace to expand that position.
>
>I mean, isn't that what competition is all about??? *bg*
>
The thing that gets me, Doug, is that part of the reason for the success has come through the competition falling on its face. I'm fairly familar with Lotus products. I hate them and here's why:

1. In WordPro (and AmiPro before it) you could not write a (old-style) Windows Help file. Why? Because neither supported custom characters for footnotes. They had plently of versions to rectify it, but never did.

2. When WordPro first appeared, the default keystroke combinations weren't the same as the standard, which had been used in AmiPro.

3. Prior to LotusScript (which appeared in SmartSuite '97), they (WordPro and 1-2-3) used different macro languages.

4. When LotusScript appeared, some existing macros broke.

5. With SmartSuite '97 they dropped DDE support. This broke any functionality with existing apps that utilized it.

Notice I haven't even touch on their docs. The one for OLE automation with SmartSuite '97 is awful.

Of course, this is just me< s >.