Comment It's All about business (Score 1) 1643
What you knee-jerk flame monkeys continually miss when it comes to the success of Microsoft is that it came because Bill Gates understood the market better than the competitors. DOS, (and eventually Windows) didn't thrive because of license agreements, they thrived because DOS and the PC platform was business friendly. The development of the "Killer Application" in the form of affordable spreadsheet, Word Processing, and database programs for the DOS platform along with hardware at an affordable price made the PC market viable. Apple could have competed for the market as could IBM or Atari.
To re-use the car analogy - in the beginning cars were custom built by hand. They were expensive and only available to the very rich. There were also few parts, tires, roads, bridges or even maps because there just wasn't a large enough demand for them. It wasn't until Henry Ford came along with the Model T that the automobile moved to the mainstream, and created other supporting business as well. A rising tide floats all boats. Apple could have easily dominated the market, but chose to be elite, and too controlling over their software and hardware. IBM could have competed, but they were too interested in selling their mainframes that they didn't see the value in PC's the smaller businesses. Atari and Commodore could have competed, but their computers were more toys than office computers. Additionally - they weren't able to get the business apps like WordStar, Lotus 123 or DBASE written for them. Further, when workers decided they needed to bring their work home with them, they were able to have compatible formats for their work on their home PC's.
All this talk about one box or OS being superior to the others is a load of crap. The Model T (or its OS equivalent DOS) didn't have to be the best car ever designed, it just had to do the job at a reasonable price. Having the best hardware or OS means nothing if you don't have the applications you want to run on them. Microsoft's strategy created a win-win situation for IBM and the hardware manufacturers, the developers who wrote and sold apps for that platform, and Microsoft with DOS and eventual windows platform,.
The hatred of Microsoft comes because of their continued success and unashamed capitalism. It really doesn't matter if Bill G personally wrote DOS from scratch any more than it matters if Starbucks employees hand pick every coffee bean or musicians only sing their own songs. They provided what the business community needed, and made many people very rich along the way with related hardware, parts and software sales. They didn't try to keep it all to themselves like Apple did initially.
As soon as someone else figures this capitalism thing out they might just be able to gain market share or even topple Microsoft. Too bad their too busy feeling so superior about themselves rather than giving the market what it wants and needs.
To re-use the car analogy - in the beginning cars were custom built by hand. They were expensive and only available to the very rich. There were also few parts, tires, roads, bridges or even maps because there just wasn't a large enough demand for them. It wasn't until Henry Ford came along with the Model T that the automobile moved to the mainstream, and created other supporting business as well. A rising tide floats all boats. Apple could have easily dominated the market, but chose to be elite, and too controlling over their software and hardware. IBM could have competed, but they were too interested in selling their mainframes that they didn't see the value in PC's the smaller businesses. Atari and Commodore could have competed, but their computers were more toys than office computers. Additionally - they weren't able to get the business apps like WordStar, Lotus 123 or DBASE written for them. Further, when workers decided they needed to bring their work home with them, they were able to have compatible formats for their work on their home PC's.
All this talk about one box or OS being superior to the others is a load of crap. The Model T (or its OS equivalent DOS) didn't have to be the best car ever designed, it just had to do the job at a reasonable price. Having the best hardware or OS means nothing if you don't have the applications you want to run on them. Microsoft's strategy created a win-win situation for IBM and the hardware manufacturers, the developers who wrote and sold apps for that platform, and Microsoft with DOS and eventual windows platform,.
The hatred of Microsoft comes because of their continued success and unashamed capitalism. It really doesn't matter if Bill G personally wrote DOS from scratch any more than it matters if Starbucks employees hand pick every coffee bean or musicians only sing their own songs. They provided what the business community needed, and made many people very rich along the way with related hardware, parts and software sales. They didn't try to keep it all to themselves like Apple did initially.
As soon as someone else figures this capitalism thing out they might just be able to gain market share or even topple Microsoft. Too bad their too busy feeling so superior about themselves rather than giving the market what it wants and needs.
