[RyanMcGreal]

>Microsoft used illegal monopolistic tactics to become ubiquitous.

No. Microsoft used sound business practice (with a generous serving of good luck and timing) to become ubiquitous. Only then did they exploit that ubiquity through illegal monopolistic practices.

[dejb]

I'd go further than this an say that Microsoft actually became ubiquitous by facilitating an open and compatible hardware ecosystem. One that prevented a monopoly from occurring in the computer hardware market. Without an MSDOS, IBM and probably Apple would have duked it out for dominance with closed boxes full of mutually incompatible hardware. Prices would be a lot higher as the competition amongst hardware (RAM, Hard Drives, motherboards graphics cards, etc) makers would be limited to 'getting the contract from IBM or Apple' as opposed to pleasing consumers and/or a large range of OEMS.

... and then they exploited that ubiquity through illegal monopolistic practices.