Being old enough to remember the IBM vs Open Systems wars where IBM lost out big time, when it was the best closed operating environment around at the time, and supposedly had the best marketing and publicity machine, I wonder why M$ is regurgitating exactly the same behaviour and propaganda that didn't work for them.

Maybe your informed readers can look into this parallel behaviour and tell me why M$ is cloning such obviously flawed strategies.

To name similarities, not in historical order:
IBM's ranting got Unix much needed publicity in the public arena;
Everyone got told the TCO of Unix would be higher, but it was Open Systems they wanted;
Every got told this and that about why IBM was better for them, but they decided choice was a better value than control.
The Federal Government slapped IBM's antitrust wrist with a feather and the American users boycotted IBM purchases;
The EU forced IBM to adopt Open Systems in Europe;
IBM took on the standard for DLC against their version and lost;
IBM told the government that if they made a loss, the economy would be harmed in a major way. Instead Unix companies filled the gap.

After making several years of losses, IBM (the formally loss proof company) adopted an Open Systems strategy throughout the company. This strategy probably enabled them to be the first major proprietary systems company to totally embrace the ideas of Open Source.

Will M$ have to go all the way down the IBM path before it can change as well?