Friends and enemies
InfoWorld | at | by Mike
Microsoft has the money and clout to make its friends rich and its enemies miserable. These musings are speculative, but IT organizations should consider them when evaluating their major tech suppliers. The friends of the vendors you choose will, in effect, become your partners. You'll be pressured to forsake their enemies, and companies on the enemies list will make it their mission to convert you.
Sun actively campaigned for the Microsoft Enemy No. 1 spot through Scott McNealy's tireless invective and through the company's involvement in antitrust actions. I don't think being in Microsoft's crosshairs is as much fun lately. Sun no longer has an in with the Justice Department. Even Sun's longtime champion Oracle is waffling, so Sun can only make its case to the market.