>Of course the argument has been made that if MS applications were a separate company, they would be more inclined to produce sw for other operating systems.

I think that MS would be more inclined to develop applications for other operating systems if MS thought that those developments would be profitable. If I were a software company (I guess I am, sort of), I wouldn't spend the time and money developing a product until I was confident I could make some money on it. I guess it's a chicken or egg question...