Hubris, and its pals Microsoft and the USA

Consider for a moment the similarities between the US and Microsoft in their respective "worlds." Both are the dominant powers over their smaller peers, and are often accused of using their strength and mammoth assets to gain further power through unfair tactics.
Both the US and Microsoft have also suffered dramatic challenges to their ages-old standard operating procedure. For the US, such a challenge took the form of the deadliest terrorist attack of all time. For Microsoft, it was a combination of legal actions taken against it by the government and the onslaught of the open-source software movement, which is proving to be cheaper and more nimble than the Microsoft way of doing business.
We can also find similarities between the extremist enemies of both Microsoft and America- the onslaught of anti-Windows viruses that have been plaguing Microsoft of late are no different to Microsoft than al Qaeda is to the US.
And so on and so forth.
My point with this exercise is to attempt to use the analogy to gain insight into the issues facing America during this election year (sorry, Microsoft- you can draw your own conclusions). It is clear that both America and Microsoft have both adversaries and enemies- and that there is a difference between the two.
It is also true that, while the enemies of both are clearly engaging in amoral tactics to prove their point, it would be delusional to, as a result, reflexively take the opposite point of view of those enemies.
As has become a mantra these days, strength and wisdom are not mutually exclusive.
Microsoft needs to adapt to the evolving rules of the computer software world and realize that, to ensure the continued success of both itself and the industry as a whole, it needs to do a better job of working with the industry, as opposed to against it. It's not too late for Microsoft, and success does not demand a complete retooling of who they are.
It does, however, require harnessing the best assets they have- their experience, their strength, power, money, and spirt- and applying them to a goal that allows for the existence and even success of people and companies beyond the borders of Redmond, Washington. Such an attempt would make everyone who deals with Microsoft- but most of all, Microsoft itself- far more secure in its "world".
America would be well advised to do the same.