Can Microsoft cope with real competition?

Massachusetts has chosen a different standard than Microsoft's for its business software.

Three weeks after Massachusetts ratified its latest Enterprise Technical Reference Model — a statewide standard that, starting January 1, 2007, disallows the use of Microsoft's Office file formats in favor of the OpenDocument Format (ODF) — Microsoft is taking its case to the court of public opinion. In the process, Alan Yates, general manager in Microsoft's Information Worker Group (the group that Office is a part of) contacted me to see if I was interested in hearing Microsoft's side of the story.

Does anybody care what Microsoft's side is? It's been found to be a monopolist in court. That by itself is enough for me to want to stay clear. I don't understand why we have allowed Bill Gates to get away with this so long, but it's about time. Microsoft has destroyed companies like WordPerfect not by producing a better product but by tying it to its monopoly over the OS. WordPerfect was created here in Utah, and produced a lot of jobs, which are now gone or in Canada, thanks to Microsoft's tactics. Word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, etc. are Microsoft's cash cow. Maybe this will loosen its grip and allow competition to get going again.