5 ms·
Perhaps before your time, MS was a monopoly and you literally couldn't buy a computer without paying them, whether it ran windows or not. They sold crap at prem
by oceanghost 9y ago
Perhaps before your time, MS was a monopoly and you literally couldn't buy a computer without paying them, whether it ran windows or not. They sold crap at premium prices. They forced computer companies to pay a DOS/Windows license for each machine MADE, not if it ran their OS.
The used dirty tricks to sink their competitors, stole ideas, products, etc. They were the original bastards of the tech industry.
I have hated them since I was a kid...in the 80s.
This Simpsons scene summarizes things nicely:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H27rfr59RiE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H27rfr59RiE
https://www.wired.com/2008/06/gates-monopoly/ https://www.wired.com/2008/06/gates-monopoly/
- anyfoo 9y agoThe part where you "literally couldn't buy a computer without paying them" is simply not true. I bought a lot of computers and computer parts at the time, and probably the only time I "had" to pay for an MS license was when buying a laptop. (But I got that one used, at a much cheaper price, on eBay, so...) You are vastly exaggerating.
- GordonS 9y agoExaggerating, but not vastly - it really did used to be quite difficult to buy a computer that didn't have Windows pre-installed.
- pera 9y agoIt's still pretty difficult to find a laptop without Windows. I had paid about a thousand dollars of OEM licenses that I didn't want and never used. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundling_of_Microsoft_Windows https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundling_of_Microsoft_Windows