4 ms·

Windows

• WJW 3y ago
  Windows (especially v3.1, Windows 95 and Windows XP) was leaps and bounds better than its contemporaries when it came to normal desktop use. You can have the most technologically advanced OS in the world but if it is too difficult to use for 99% of potential users then it it not a good product. Microsoft was one of the first few companies to really get this right.
  • nurple 3y ago
    Yeah, perhaps I should have said MSDOS. But even still, I think perhaps your rose-colored hindsight is probably miscoloring your memory. The initial releases of Windows was a nightmare, with Bill's mom consoling him after a particularly disasterous demo, and if it wasn't on the back of the brilliant--or lucky--marketing maneuverings that cemented MSDOS as the preeminent PC OS at the time, I firmly believe that Windows would not have become the preeminent desktop OS powerhouse that it is today. In fact, I think that behind the scenes of the ominous MS investment in Apple (with the whole big-brotheresque Bill Gates appearance) there was an explicit--business, not technical--agreement between Gates and Jobs that Apple would not venture out of their own hardware, specifically to allow Windows to continue its PC dominance.
    • WJW 3y ago
      Meh. Was early Windows (and/or MSDOS) perfect? Obviously not. Was it better than its competitors? Yes. Absolutely. Compared to what we have today they were all shit tbh and MSDOS was better than most. Don't get me wrong, the marketing game of early MS was absolutely phenomenal. I just want to say that they succeeded to the degree they did because BOTH marketing AND the tech were good.