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But that's exactly the situation we had in the PC world in the mid-80s, when there were competing GUI environments that ran on top of DOS (Windows, GEM, Visi On
by metageek 16y ago
But that's exactly the situation we had in the PC world in the mid-80s, when there were competing GUI environments that ran on top of DOS (Windows, GEM, Visi On). In theory, they could've continued coexisting indefinitely; in reality, network effects meant that one won out and the others died off.
Now, granted, the big difference there was that MS had an advantage over its competitors, since they made the platform everybody was building on. The flip side, though, is that it was possible to install multiple windowing systems on the same PC, so that users didn't have to pick one and stick with it. With cellphones, you can't do that. The closest you come is being able to move your SIM from one phone to another; but you leave all your data behind.
- jacquesm 16y agoFunny you should remember GEM, I actually quite liked it. Digital Research made some nice things. I agree, there can be such an effect, but since every phone carries windowing system and OS on board from a single vendor (for the most part) the competing standards are not running on the same hardware. In other words, you are not going to take your iphone and put android on it, unless you are exceedingly technical. (in the end it is just software, so sure, it can be done). Then there is the fact that there are already open software stacks for phones and I expect that trend to continue. The open source movement missed out on the desktop wars, simply because they got off the ground much later, but I expect the cell phones arena to be different in that respect. Android is a really big step in the opening up of the cell phone world.
- glhaynes 16y agoThe open source movement missed out on the desktop wars, simply because they got off the ground much later Very well could be true. But is by no means proven.