To be clear, I'm not bashing - it's clearly a good business strategy, and confusing that current MS appears to have forgotten it.

Google are currently showing how it's done perfectly.

Faire enough, I just complained, because it is quite common in places like HN to bash Microsoft, while forgetin about similar practices done by other companies, just because they enjoy a few more geek points.

Its really only common because Microsoft did so well with it compared to the rest. Its not like we "forget" other companies do it, just that they haven't done nearly as well as microsoft in their heyday.

When the next big thing comes and threatens Google, then we will see how well they will do. So far they raised and shined without much trouble.