But Microsoft argues that the release of the new version of Windows is critical not only to the company but to a personal computer industry seeing one of the worst downturns in its history.

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Another political variable that argues for Microsoft to stall for time: the upcoming presidential race.

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And when that happens, argues MG Siegler, Google and Chrome start to look a lot like Microsoft and Internet Explorer.

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Pat Choate, who is the author of Hot Property, a book on the theft of intellectual property, argues that if the new patent regimen had existed when corporations like Apple and Microsoft first got going, they might never have made it out of the little leagues.

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