Bunch of fives: Tech firms' bitter rants

Once the initial shock over the death of Michael Jackson has dissipated, we suspect a certain bitterness will linger among some.

Those who spent hundreds of pounds on 'second-hand' tickets that are now lemons probably won't get a refund; what looked like a sure-fire profit maker could cost the insurer AIG $85 million to cover the cancelled concerts at the O2 . We now remember the fury felt by five tech companies over the machinations of fate.

1. Apple hoist by own petard
Microsoft copied the Mac operating system claim Apple fans, but what they won’t tell you is that Apple were similarly inspired by the work of Xerox who got there first.

2. Opera outfoxed
This excellent browser has been eclipsed by Firefox, despite coming up with key features like tabbed browsing first. Cue some bitterness in briefings when discussing the competition.

3. 3 Mobile turns on itself
Mobile phone provider 3 was certainly bitter about multinational competitors. There might have been high charges between Vodafone France and Vodafone UK but they are part of the same group so effectively it was just robbing Peter to pay Paul. Then the EU stepped in to reduce charges.

4. AMD smells a rat?
One tool for assessing computer performance is Sysmark, made by a group of technology companies including Intel. After a while arch-rivals AMD joined the party and then very publicly claimed that the tests favoured Intel.

5. Richard Stallman has a tantrum
Richard Stallman founded the Free Software Foundation that eventually lead to Linux. In 1999 he was presented an award named after the creator of Linux, Linus Torvalds. Stallman's response set the bar for acts of ingratitude.