Comment Re:MBA's vs the guys in the garage (Score 2, Interesting) 319
this goes back years. Microsoft used to do the same thing. they would visit a company, see a product, decline to buy it and then it would come up in the next version of WIndows. lately i see that Windows has a lot of third party licensed software.
Two reasons why you see a lot of licensed code in Microsoft products:
1. Other companies got wise and treated Microsoft with the appropriate degree of paranoia.
2. Microsoft realized it was often cheaper to write a check than get burned See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stac_Electronics
Of course, Microsoft was often just as sharp at negotiating those licensing deals. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyglass,_Inc.#Browser_wars which goes back to the importance of point 1.