Microsoft is not dead. They are smart. Do not forget that they own significant shares in Apple. It was Microsoft that helped Apple come back. If you take a close look you may find that Apple is Microsofts support. Strange angle I agree. With Apple being percieved as strong, Microsoft can not be suide as easily for anything they do to control or manipulate the market. Deffinately they are not publicly viewed as a Manopoly any more. Take a close look from this direction and you may find another good article to write.
What has helped the market more than Apple or Linux is this: desktop applications have standardized and the conversion tools make even programs like excell (with macros and arrays) interchangable with other nock off products. Thanks goes to the unknowns that supply open source that is interchangeable with MS products. If this was not avaialble every business would be locked into one desktop and that would likely still be MS Office.
What has helped the market more than Apple or Linux is this: desktop applications have standardized and the conversion tools make even programs like excell (with macros and arrays) interchangable with other nock off products. Thanks goes to the unknowns that supply open source that is interchangeable with MS products. If this was not avaialble every business would be locked into one desktop and that would likely still be MS Office.