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0 pointsMartinCron8y ago0 comments

most of the people there were ruthlessly crushed by Microsoft business tactics

That has to be hyperbole. Even at the height of Microsoft's aggression, there were many professional software devs left uncrushed.

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8 comments · 4 top-level

gfodor8y ago· 3 in thread

I feel like avoiding the steamroller of "embrace and extend" that was MS at the time was highly dependent upon luck.

flukus8y ago

The steam roller is still there from quite a few companies, make something popular and Google, MS, Facebook will clone it and force it on people. No luck about it though, these companies are only interested in mass market stuff, the long tail has only gotten longer.

adventured8y ago

> The steam roller is still there from quite a few companies

It never left, it will never not exist.

Amazon is presently crushing the old-line retail industry in a manner that is little different from what any number of giants in the past did to the competition, whether Walmart or Sears before it.

godzillabrennus8y ago

First they offer to buy it.

If you aren’t insane you sell it.

If you think you can beat the big three you probably deserve to be crushed.

musage8y ago· 1 in thread

"Most of the people there". Not "most of the people".

gcb08y ago

if you want to be pedant: "most of the people developing software" would be the most accurate imho.

You didn't have to be crushed directly if they crushed one of your favorite tools.

Happened to me three or four times and I picked up a pitchfork too.

chris_wot8y ago

Microsoft deliberately went out of their way to make life incredibly difficult for anyone who competed with them. To the point of corrupting standards bodies. Just look at their document format, and we are still dealing with that bullshit years later.

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