There was a period of 10 or 15 years or so (up to around 2000) where the de-facto standard microcomputer operating system, supplied by MS, was much worse at usi

There was a period of 10 or 15 years or so (up to around 2000) where the de-facto standard microcomputer operating system, supplied by MS, was much worse at using the hardware than it should have been. (In the earlier part it wasn't able to access all the memory without jumping through hoops; throughout the period it wasn't using the available protection mechanisms to isolate processes properly.) This was for business reasons, not because the human race didn't know how to write a better OS. (I don't think this makes Gates an evil person, but I think it does make it fair to say that Microsoft stymied the computer revolution to some extent.)