To be fair, Netscape lost because their product, at the time, was inferior. Netscape blew IE out of the water at first, but IE kept getting better. Netscape 3 was excellent, but when IE 4 came out, it was just better. Then came Netscape 4. 'Nuff said.
Lotus couldn't make the transition to Windows, and so lost to Excel (and perhaps Quattro Pro... it's been a long time and I don't remember details). This had nothing to do with copying APIs. Of course, it probably had everything to do with Microsoft's anti-competitive advantage by having access to Windows internals and undocumented features, but that's another matter.
Lotus couldn't make the transition to Windows, and so lost to Excel (and perhaps Quattro Pro... it's been a long time and I don't remember details). This had nothing to do with copying APIs. Of course, it probably had everything to do with Microsoft's anti-competitive advantage by having access to Windows internals and undocumented features, but that's another matter.