I see the polls about Gates, and I wonder how many people are very well thought-out about the whole thing. I bet if you asked most people who want Microsoft "stopped" why they want that to happen, their arguments would be the following:
- Bill Gates just has way too much money
- He did bad stuff to a competitor, I think
- Linux/MacOs/Be/whatever is better
Gates lost the case in the court of public opinion a year ago, mainly because he's the king of the hill, and people like the drama of the big guy getting defeated.
If I was Bill Gates, I'd leave Microsoft to the lawyers and the government. I'd watch the Great American Success Story of the 20th century crumble under the helm of a thousand bean-counters. I'd watch critics villify me for shirking my "obligation" to them to provide operating systems and applications, even though I gave 'em exactly what they wanted by getting out of the way.