My pet theory about Microsoft is that worse-is-better provides an overwhelming first-mover advantage, and an even more overwhelming second-mover advantage in th

My pet theory about Microsoft is that worse-is-better provides an overwhelming first-mover advantage, and an even more overwhelming second-mover advantage in the longer term (provided the first mover followed the WiB strategy.) I call this 'technical living-beyond-your-means' (rhymes with 'technical debt'). The flame that burns twice as high burns half as long, yada yada. Eventually, you will be kicking yourself for not having made it right the first time. The corollary is that eventually we will all be running Plan 9, so there are probably other factors at play as well, which I will quietly brush under the carpet, like air friction in a high school physics question. ;)