Well, the problem with world domination plans (Microsoft included), is that every actor has one, and they don't necessarily, ehm, align. So the non-desktop par

Well, the problem with world domination plans (Microsoft included), is that every actor has one, and they don't necessarily, ehm, align. So the non-desktop part was lost by Microsoft, and this resulted in the world we have now, Linux derivatives and all. But for a while, sometime around 1996-2006, it definitely felt like they almost had it. This is when I began my official dev career and that summer I could barely find a non-MS stack shop. And yes, the OSS movement didn't manage to unify the desktop. And Microsoft has nothing to do with it. I still like the landscape much better.