I've long felt the worst possible thing that happened to Microsoft was when a federal appeals court overturned Judge Thomas Jackson's decree to . Actually, it probably should have been split into four or five parts. Imagine a world where Office development could continue unencumbered from Windows, where Microsoft's Internet division could be as nimble as a Web startup, or its consumer electronics as appealing as anything coming from Sony or -- dare I say it? -- Apple.

Maybe that's overstating it. But being enormous didn't help the dinosaurs in the end, and it's not helping Microsoft now.

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