I think Dave's got it right...Elop is simply the tool.
Don't blame the tool...that is way too convenient.
Blame those that use the tool improperly.

@ Kangal
It is an interesting postulation eh?
Funny thing is that technically in some alts. Nokia never got off the ground with the NIT or even existed as a corp.
In others it ends up becoming the dominating corp on the planet superceding all the others.
In still more the concept of intelligently aimed openness and choice herald a thoughtful golden age in society and saw the beginning of the collapse of the institutions of greed, disparity, corruption, etc.
In yet others the NIT heralds the dominance of a dark age of control...
Fact is ...theoretically ...what ever can be conceived ...has already happened...is happening ...will happen. It's simply the nature of "the odds".

yeah man...
More and more accepted...mutiverse theory ...it's "overlaps" ...it's "distancing"...from one to another....from what is believably possible..in a nearby univese...to unlikely or impossible in a universe with great separation 'tween "here" and "there".. is way-cool.
I'm all for your multiverse thread.
+1 to that
Got my vote.