Lesser companies would either use their monopolistic power to enforce crap products to customers (like M$ has mostly done)
Oh, so you mean I didn't HAVE TO install iTunes on my PC to be able to register an account to purchase software for my phone or transfer music to it?
I guess I come across as very anti-Apple in this thread, but I use OSX for development at work daily and I love it. It just strikes me as more Apple-like than Microsoft-like to try to herd its users into using the same software and centralized distribution systems.