“Trolling the high-tech waters in search of the next big thing,
legions of software entrepreneurs have learned, the hard way, to
steer clear of Microsoft Corp.’s main turf: platforms for the
personal computer.“The overwhelming bulk of the profits from operating systems and
office productivity software flows to Microsoft, which sets its own
pace for improving those applications. Few start-ups can find
profits in this business that the world’s largest software maker
dominates.“But if you are rich enough and have no shareholders to answer
to, why concern yourself with profits? With the fortune he amassed
creating the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet application that helped start
the PC revolution, Mitch Kapor has tackled such socially
responsible causes as environmental health, education for the poor,
and Internet privacy and free speech. His focus now is on a
nonprofit corporation with an unusual goal: giving average PC users
richer software that lets them manage their e-mail, calendar
appointments, contact lists, tasks, and documents in new ways,
allowing more intuitive sharing of information…”