Uneasy software alliances

The now-infamous bug battle between RealNetworks and Microsoft represents a problematic part of the software industry: how competitors' products work together. Microsoft, for example, may take on Apple's popular multimedia platform QuickTime even though the software giant is an investor in the Mac maker.

QuickTime vs. Microsoft? news analysis As Apple prepares to enter the streaming market, it faces the specter of squaring off with one of its investors. What's the meaning of RealNetworks? news analysis The larger issue of how software is controlled certainly concerns smaller companies vying for revenue in Microsoft's shadow, not to mention consumers. Bug spurs standard drive roundup Twenty firms back RealNetworks' push for a new standard in the latest salvo between the streaming firm and Microsoft.