Microsoft has gotten to a size where it's almost impossible to outgrow the market. The surprising 60 to 70 percent growth period is over.

Unless Microsoft can prove that Windows 2000 is all of those things -- highly interoperable, consistent and reliable -- they can damage themselves and lock themselves out of the computer room for the next decade.

The market had gotten oversold.

The market has gotten really sensitive to surprises and expectations. But I don't think there is a game being played by Dell. It just manages the business well,

It's all just an indication of the old saying that nothing succeeds like success. If a market is booming, and people are looking for products, there will naturally be companies happy to provide them.

Their challenge is to become a good corporate citizen, which means not always being the star of the show but being a supporting player. That might mean sometimes standing under the spotlight; at other times it means taking a seat in the orchestra pit.