2 ms·

> Why? because something like this always does. No it doesn't. Nothing has seriously challenged MS-DOS/Windows ownership of the PC space for 25+ years. Macs ha

by ebbv 10y ago

> Why? because something like this always does. No it doesn't. Nothing has seriously challenged MS-DOS/Windows ownership of the PC space for 25+ years. Macs have always been around but they are separate hardware. MS-DOS/Windows owned the PC space for most of the 80s, all of the 90s, all of the 00s and will continue to own it through the 10s and onward as it slowly decays. Linux arose in the 90s but it never made any kind of serious challenge on the desktop. Now Linux did challenge the existing server OS market, and totally changed that market around. But that was also facilitated by x86 hardware becoming powerful enough to displace the existing hardware as well. Those two things happened together and probably wouldn't have happened any other way. So the statement that "something always does" arise to challenge dominant players just isn't true at all. Sometimes something does, but not remotely "always".

digi_owl 10y ago
Also keep in mind the dot-com bust that left a whole lot of second hand x86 hardware floating around. What got Linux a server foothold was the L in LAMP. Never mind that MS have always fought dirty. Embrace, Extend, Extinguish is perhaps the unofficial company motto. Keep in mind that Active Directory is built on top of open protocols like DNS and Kerberos. But with enough MS "quirks" to make interoperability a chore. Similarly, MS Office will happily support other file formats as inputs, but output will always have MS "quirks". On the hardware side you had questionable contracts that meant MS got paid no matter the OS installed, or deep discounts that only applied if companies only shipped Windows pre-installed. Damn it, they basically choked the life out of Netbooks by putting a very stringent license on Windows XP (that until then they had tried to kill off in favor of Vista) that detailed the hardware it could be run on. almost over night the Netbooks turned into carbon copies, where before each company had been playing with their own designs (Intel bringing out a ATOM package deal that fit the license perfectly likely contributed).

by ebbv 10y ago

digi_owl 10y ago

Also keep in mind the dot-com bust that left a whole lot of second hand x86 hardware floating around. What got Linux a server foothold was the L in LAMP. Never mind that MS have always fought dirty. Embrace, Extend, Extinguish is perhaps the unofficial company motto. Keep in mind that Active Directory is built on top of open protocols like DNS and Kerberos. But with enough MS "quirks" to make interoperability a chore. Similarly, MS Office will happily support other file formats as inputs, but output will always have MS "quirks". On the hardware side you had questionable contracts that meant MS got paid no matter the OS installed, or deep discounts that only applied if companies only shipped Windows pre-installed. Damn it, they basically choked the life out of Netbooks by putting a very stringent license on Windows XP (that until then they had tried to kill off in favor of Vista) that detailed the hardware it could be run on. almost over night the Netbooks turned into carbon copies, where before each company had been playing with their own designs (Intel bringing out a ATOM package deal that fit the license perfectly likely contributed).