As I see it the various lawsuits etc. had little to do with the near death of Apple. Ironically, I think it was a relative lack of innovation and expensive mediocre products due to the succession of bean counter CEOs (John Sculley, Michael Spindler, Gil Amelio) that almost killed Apple. While there were a few inspired products during that period (the first Powerbooks were fairly innovative in the laptop world) it was nothing like what we see now. It was the return of Steve Jobs and a renewed focus on innovation, great industrial design and ease of use that brought Apple back. Dealings with Microsoft etc. were interesting side stories.
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