"tried harder to succeed on its merits than Microsoft has." The flaw in that argument is that it presumes that Microsoft's success was based on Microsoft's suc

"tried harder to succeed on its merits than Microsoft has." The flaw in that argument is that it presumes that Microsoft's success was based on Microsoft's success. You're addressing what MS has done to maintain their dominant market position, not how they got there -- though in the beginning, MS got its start through smart business rather than technology or innovation.