tl,dr: Microsoft deliberately introduced bugs into their platform to destabilise Quicktime. The reason I bring it up here is because if Apple so desired they could engineer their platform in a way that prevented RA's software from functioning.
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It's interesting that this isn't better known because Microsoft's tactics through the 90s would make HN users screech. Microsoft had taken aim at a number of businesses and technologies which they saw as competitive threats - the results of which go a long way to explain why we have such limited choice in computing platforms/technologies versus the early 90s. Amongst many important technology providers, they didn't just fall over, they were pushed.
Quicktime was one of the many technologies that Microsoft targeted due to being seen as a competitive threat to their business objectives.
Microsoft made this known to Apple and industry partners via threats that they followed through with. This included deliberately engineering under the hood problems for Quicktime, presenting fake error messages, silently usurping file associations, stealing code from quicktime to build competitor products, and using their monopoly to force partners to rip quicktime out of their products. (This list is not exhaustive.)
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It's interesting that this isn't better known because Microsoft's tactics through the 90s would make HN users screech. Microsoft had taken aim at a number of businesses and technologies which they saw as competitive threats - the results of which go a long way to explain why we have such limited choice in computing platforms/technologies versus the early 90s. Amongst many important technology providers, they didn't just fall over, they were pushed.
This article covers some of it, but there is so much more: http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/RDM.Tech.Q1.07/5F0C866C-6DD...
In summary:
Quicktime was one of the many technologies that Microsoft targeted due to being seen as a competitive threat to their business objectives.
Microsoft made this known to Apple and industry partners via threats that they followed through with. This included deliberately engineering under the hood problems for Quicktime, presenting fake error messages, silently usurping file associations, stealing code from quicktime to build competitor products, and using their monopoly to force partners to rip quicktime out of their products. (This list is not exhaustive.)