The government went after them in the late 1990s for anti-trust.  The case was suddenly settled when someone (insider) uncovered an email from a congressman (?) who was saying that they should be taken down.  We were never told how Bill Gates obtained a copy of the damning email.  But within days the case was settled.  Microsoft execs knew they were going to get away without government oversight or being broken up and were crowing about it (that's how I found out about it).    I believe this is the turning point for Gates.  He was always a ruthless a-hole, but the agreement of that anti-trust settlement was that Gates stepped down from running the day to day operations of MS.  He likely made a deal with the devil to keep his fortune intact.  Now he works for the cabal.