Re:To be perfectly honest... (Score 1)

Interesting take on the issue.

Especially since Microsoft made their billions by the customer association with IBM, as in "IBM-PC compatible".

Which brings to mind the fact that they also hijacked the term "PC", which was once associated with all brands of microcomputers, to mean only those microcomputers capable of running a Microsoft OS.

My personal feelings about Gates & Co. aside, it seems to me that their point is ill-conceived, since their entire business model consists of branding common terms and open technical standards as their own unique property.

Defending a brand name from becoming generic is not what Microsoft is doing. They're attempting to seize a generic term as "intellectual property". They've failed to do so legally, so now they're bringing their monopoly power to bear on each target in turn.

Which suggests that their real point is anything you can get away with is OK--unless you're someone other than Microsoft.