Quick reply for architects, well here in japan it's the contrary... Try to find an architect that doesn't use mac based software - you can't. (and even though a

Quick reply for architects, well here in japan it's the contrary... Try to find an architect that doesn't use mac based software - you can't. (and even though autodesk tools are nicer than vectorworks....) They are dead in the sense that while they still keep their old monopoly, it's slowly crumbling away... Files in word format can be read on almost any plateform now (maybe not always perfectly but still good enough) and the file formats for texts or other things will change as people start using new software (web applications). As a matter of fact, you can see the death of microsoft by the fact that it's not a problem to run another platform anymore (in 90% of the cases) and that it becomes more and more easier... It's mostly because microsoft doesn't bring anything new to the table anymore... Before, they didn't really innovate but they often came with really good implementations of good ideas other people had (lotus 1-2-3 - excel, wordstar - word, netscape - internet explorer) and took the market. They don't seem to be able to do this anymore