New York Times: Making life difficult for Microsoft

John Markoff and Steve Lohr look at the Liberty Alliance, the cable industry, and wireless as examples of where various partners collaborated to attempt to slow Microsoft.

Microsoft has found its advances elsewhere slowed by wary industry partners and rivals. The company has had little success to date in convincing cellphone makers and the cable television operators to adopt pared-down versions of its Windows software. They have preferred rival offerings or, as in the Liberty case, cooperated to create a competing technology ˜ despite the billions of dollars Microsoft has spent to gain entry into these markets.