[oldmanjay]

Since technology did what it does by enabling unexpected competitors to pass Microsoft, would there have been a purpose beyond the purely political? It's hard to say they have a monopoly on anything now, not even the badwill of the geeks.

[reality_czech]

Microsoft is still as profitable as ever and they have a ton of money and patents. There is still no real competition on the desktop. Linux is used by a tiny number of hardcore enthusiasts. Apple was financially propped up by Microsoft in the early 2000s to maintain the illusion of competition, but their market share is under 15%. The next generation of hardware is going to take away the option of even using Linux... Microsoft has locked down the bootloaders on ARM devices, although they continue to allow Linux to be installed on Intel devices (for now, at least.)

Microsoft may not dominate the areas of cloud computing or smartphones, but those are separate industries from the desktop. And Microsoft continues to pour money into those industries by investing in Azure and Windows RT. They may yet come to dominate those industries if Amazon or Google make a mistake.

Microsoft has also added mandatory spyware (essentially) to their new Windows 10. Some of it can be disabled, but other parts can't. They are also pushing their Windows Store thing. It's still possible to install desktop software without paying Microsoft, but for how much longer?

HN has a real blind spot when it comes to how harmful Microsoft was and continues to be.