After 10 long years of living under the microscope of the Department of Justice, Microsoft can finally relax a bit. This is good news for Microsoft, but I don’t see them going back to the aggressing Microsoft we once knew. Honestly, when Microsoft was like that, it sure did breed a lot of innovation and speedy advancements. It was going to be the leader no matter what. Now, it seems that not only are they a lot more relaxed on development, they are also scared to innovate so they don’t step on anyone’s toes.
Even if Microsoft wanted to return to its aggressive roots, it would face huge obstacles. In the late 1990s its OS/Office competitors were dead, dying, or too small to matter (Apple eventually became an exception). Netscape was an ant. Windows was making inroads into corporate settings thanks to NT 4.0 and Windows 2000.