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Classy Companies, Underdogs, and Schadenfreude

If, as Felix Salmon wrote recently, there is no future for Microsoft, I will not be sorry as they go noisily into the dark night.

There are some companies that are classy, like Bjorn Borg, Stefan Edberg Pete Sampras, or Roger Federer, doing their work with style and inventiveness. When they lose or begin to fade it breaks your heart. There are some companies that are beautiful underdogs, and you root for them even though you know their winning is unlikely, like Lleyton Hewitt.

Apple and UNIX  were both underdogs and classy for so long that it’s a pleasure to see them winning. Programmers love UNIX for its tools, consumers love Apple for its design.

MS has been neither classy nor an underdog, a behemoth and a bit of a bully. Who loves Windows?

Connors and McEnroe were once behemoth too, brutifying tennis. But they have become wry and introspective in their maturity, able to joke about themselves. MS hasn’t.

I’ve never owned a PC, I’ve never been to Disneyland or Disneyworld, I’ve never been to Las Vegas, and, perhaps regretfully, I’ve never been to the Statue of Liberty, so I have an almost perfect record.

Published in Opinion