I am not sure these companies don't actually already know "open solutions have greater reach than closed solutions". They are run by extremely smart and capable

I am not sure these companies don't actually already know "open solutions have greater reach than closed solutions". They are run by extremely smart and capable people - but they are more concerned with pleasing the shareholders and hence short term profits than creating truly open systems (with some exceptions here and there) and we can't blame them for it. A more effective approach would be to create/support open systems and educate consumers instead.