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I feel like you're implying that would be a bad thing when it could actually be preferable. I don't think MS is faultless or anything, but I'd be surprised if they could make themselves as much of a pain as Adobe does (especially given all the OS integration opportunity).

This is exactly what Microsoft were accused of doing to Lotus 1-2-3 back in the day. See [0]. TL;DR: wasn't true.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10432608

Didn't they try that with Expression back in the aughts and fail? Doesn't mean it couldn't work now, though!

I actually found out about Expression way after the fact and thought it was a viable alternative - but by then, MS was already in the process of sending it out to pasture.

It's like a co-worker said, "Adobe's software is bloated and cumbersome, but they have a top notch marketing team that keeps it afloat." But yes, if there is a company that is ripe to have some serious competitors it would be Adobe.