That was no competition. trueSpace is a completely package, including animation. Sketchup is a limited Modeler

But yes, trueSpace is the other extreme to Blender. While Blender is too much hotkeys, tS is too much icons. But i am able to setup 6.6 to work like Blender. Heck, i can even customize the hotkeys! But i could never setup Blender to work like trueSpace

Keep in mind that tS 7.6 is made of two softwares. That's why it's a bit confusing to learn. You need to learn both sides, Modeler and Workspace. Modeler is in fact trueSpace6.6 as a big plugin, while the Workspace is the new tS.

The Workspace was a clear step towards a less iconized UI. That's why there is the Stack. You can turn all toolbars into pure text. And you can customize the UI in lots of ways.

Microsoft was and is more interested in the underlying architecture than in trueSpace itself. And i guess we will find this architecture in some future 3D appps ...