From the beginning, Microsoft had proven the mantra that good artists copy but great artists steal. Its first operating system (MS-DOS) was actually a clone of CP/M, another operating system.* Microsoft Windows was a rip-off of the Apple Macintosh operating system; Microsoft Word and Excel were copies of Wordperfect and Lotus 1-2-3, respectively. In no instance were Microsoft’s products actually better in a clear way—instead, they were always bundled with something else you really needed. Microsoft’s products never won by choice, but rather, by the sense that there was no real choice.
