From The Dark Side--"Let IBM Buy Retail!"

is the accusation brought against Microsoft by IBM during Windows licensing negotiations because IBM was supporting its own OS (OS/2), Netscape, Lotus products, etc. according to this PC Week article on depositions for the final phase of Microsoft's antitrust trial. [Apple is both a hardware and software company. However, I used to argue that Apple should work real hard to become just a software company and cloning was a key step. The other key step was outsourcing Apple-branded hardware. The latter seems to be happening to some degree and the former is history. Apple still makes most of its profits off hardware and probably will as long as Steve Jobs can breathe. He's probably right, at least until a significant crack appears in Microsoft's armor. Maybe the Justice Department will open it.--Bill] [Dana Baggett]