> "but it IS their job to criticize their competitors"
I disagree - both Google and Apple in the past have been very polite about their competitors' products. MS (particularly Ballmer) has a long and colorful track record of badmouthing competitors, only to have to eat their words later. Some of what MS has done for competing platforms/products has really bordered on smear campaigning, which IMHO is something that is far from standard procedure in our industry.
I disagree - both Google and Apple in the past have been very polite about their competitors' products. MS (particularly Ballmer) has a long and colorful track record of badmouthing competitors, only to have to eat their words later. Some of what MS has done for competing platforms/products has really bordered on smear campaigning, which IMHO is something that is far from standard procedure in our industry.