[Perenti]

It can also prevent competitors from entering a particular space. I was told as an undergraduate that UNIX was irrelevant because the upcoming Windows NT would be POSIX compliant. It took a _very_ long time before that happened (and for a very flexible version of "compliant"), but the pointy-headed bosses thought that buying Microsoft was the future. And at first glance the upcoming NT _looked_ as if the TCO would be much lower than AIX, HPuX or Solaris.

Then of course Linux took over everywhere except the desktop.

[AnthonyMouse]

That wasn't even necessarily false. Windows NT on commodity hardware from the likes of Dell arguably did have a lower TCO than proprietary UNIX on proprietary hardware.

But then Linux on that same commodity hardware was lower yet.