Good morning Alan;

Sometimes Microsoft admits it took the “wrong direction” and cuts its losses. It seems they have a vision of what we as users should have or want. That drives the company and in some cases they have done a good job.

Apple had a great opportunity to be more competitive than it is now. People in the business community in 1989 in Silicon Valley would complain about Apple. They had $450 million in the bank and no debt! This did not agree with the business model CFO’s were taught at Stanford or Harvard Business Schools. They were taught you “use other peoples money to run your company and borrow from the bank”.

I told the guys at our FoxPro User Group that IBM had a plan. They were going to purchase all PC manufacturers and cease manufacturing of all PC’s. A new marketing campaign would begin immediately. It would be titled, “Main Frames for the Home”! There are people still at IBM who are Main Frame oriented and if they were in charge… :)

Bill Gates and company began with a good product that had a need. They are also a good marketing and business company. If you do not have a product to sell buy the company that produces a top quality piece of software that people want.

Remember when WordPerfect was on 85% of all computers that used word processors? Things change and for a reason. Some times the reason is not "good" (subjective it is!) but you look at the end result.

Tom