Is Bill Gates a real outlier? Seems to have massively exploited the people around him. Didn't even build DOS, got the contract because of parents connections. If he's lucky, his lasting legacy will be donkey.bas.
He didn't just buy DOS, he made sure it kept up with the best OS on the market, including Apple's. He also recognized the initial quality of DOS outside of several other OS on the market, which he learned because he was an expert in the field and made BASIC. He also Microsoft ahead of the curve at almost every point during the computer revolution.
How were they ahead of the curve? By implementing a GUI well after Apple had stolen the designs from Xerox?
Microsoft didn't even write the port of qDos for the IBM PC, they had to get Tim Paterson from SCP to write it for them.
Microsoft was successful for a reason. They were much faster, and better than other computers. They demolished the personal computer market for decades.