4 ms·

Capitalism doesn't mean you can't have regulations and enforcement. Microsoft used every dirty tactic in the book to wipe out its competitors, and the governmen

by paxy 9y ago

Capitalism doesn't mean you can't have regulations and enforcement. Microsoft used every dirty tactic in the book to wipe out its competitors, and the government turned a blind eye till it was way too late. If someone from the 80s or 90s got a time machine and skipped to today, one of their biggest surprises would be that Bill Gates is considered a beloved philanthropist rather than the personification of corporate evil.

bluedino 9y ago
A lot of the competitors shit the bed. WordPerfect basically handed the market over by focusing on a bunch of random programs and letting Microsoft take over the windows market.
- Theodores 9y ago
  Microsoft had the jump on WordPerfect when it came to getting a word processor on Windows. By Windows I mean windows 3.1, 3.11, the versions that worked and were bought with bundled MS software. Furthermore WordPerfect people were touch typists, users of function keys. In previous times these people were the typing pool. Now we don't have typing pools, managers and others that would have used secretaries worked out they could do okay by themselves in MS Word with its toolbar buttons to embolden text etc. Sadly the touch typing WordPerfect crew that had ensured the DOS years didn't really make it to the new GUI ways of working. Their muscle memory and need to keep the fingers on the keyboard kept them at the WordPerfect level of working, much like how you have programmers using 'vim' instead of a modern GUI like 'Notepad', there was no perceived improvement. I remember how lame the Wordperfect for Windows was, it was not performant and the last thing you need with a word processor is that feeling your computer could BSOD any moment. It was all wrong for the Windows world but, as mentioned, Microsoft had the jump on that, they could even build in features to Wondows to support what would become Office if need be, Wordperfect didn't have that under the hood access.
wolfgke 9y ago
> Microsoft used every dirty tactic in the book to wipe out its competitors, and the government turned a blind eye till it was way too late. > If someone from the 80s or 90s got a time machine and skipped to today, one of their biggest surprises would be that Bill Gates is considered a beloved philanthropist rather than the personification of corporate evil. The problem rather is that people have a short memory. I for myself have not forgotten.

by paxy 9y ago

bluedino 9y ago

A lot of the competitors shit the bed. WordPerfect basically handed the market over by focusing on a bunch of random programs and letting Microsoft take over the windows market.

Theodores 9y ago
Microsoft had the jump on WordPerfect when it came to getting a word processor on Windows. By Windows I mean windows 3.1, 3.11, the versions that worked and were bought with bundled MS software. Furthermore WordPerfect people were touch typists, users of function keys. In previous times these people were the typing pool. Now we don't have typing pools, managers and others that would have used secretaries worked out they could do okay by themselves in MS Word with its toolbar buttons to embolden text etc. Sadly the touch typing WordPerfect crew that had ensured the DOS years didn't really make it to the new GUI ways of working. Their muscle memory and need to keep the fingers on the keyboard kept them at the WordPerfect level of working, much like how you have programmers using 'vim' instead of a modern GUI like 'Notepad', there was no perceived improvement. I remember how lame the Wordperfect for Windows was, it was not performant and the last thing you need with a word processor is that feeling your computer could BSOD any moment. It was all wrong for the Windows world but, as mentioned, Microsoft had the jump on that, they could even build in features to Wondows to support what would become Office if need be, Wordperfect didn't have that under the hood access.

wolfgke 9y ago

> Microsoft used every dirty tactic in the book to wipe out its competitors, and the government turned a blind eye till it was way too late. > If someone from the 80s or 90s got a time machine and skipped to today, one of their biggest surprises would be that Bill Gates is considered a beloved philanthropist rather than the personification of corporate evil. The problem rather is that people have a short memory. I for myself have not forgotten.