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People don't bear Apple animosity for what they have done to RIM, or Google for what they have done to Nokia for the same reasons nobody hated Sun for what they did to DEC.

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Maybe it's not just the "what" but the "how"? The perception is that Apple stomped RIM into the ground fair and square, while Microsoft mortally wounded (then beloved) Netscape through anti-competitive bundling and partner manipulation?

Google is every bit as much an existential threat to most small software companies now as Microsoft was at the height of its power, but we don't have any resonant stories of Google competitors being taken out unfairly.

Lest we forget, Netscape was acquired by AOL for more than $4 billion. One can blame Microsoft for it's demise, but both the acquisition and the anti-trust suit occurred in the same year. In other words, despite Microsoft's actions, there was a solid exit on paper.

http://www.groklaw.net/articlebasic.php?story=20071023002351...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_Documents

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