[twblalock]

> Microsoft was going to own desktop, mobile, search? $300-$400 billion in revenue? $130+ billion in profit?

> No. That's absurd. Holding Ballmer to account for not conquering planet Earth is not a fair premise.

I didn't say Microsoft needed to "own" mobile and search. They just needed to be competitive, instead of trying and failing which is what they did.

[btowngar]

Online search is a natural monopoly - being simply "competitive" probably isn't possible, you either win (Google) or you don't (everybody else).