4 ms·

Windows is still a joke in 2024. I cannot fathom for the life of me how it could have ever gotten the market share it did without Microsoft's scummy tactics in

Windows is still a joke in 2024. I cannot fathom for the life of me how it could have ever gotten the market share it did without Microsoft's scummy tactics in the 1980s-2000s.

musicale 3y ago
In the 1990s, Windows PCs provided a cheaper alternative to Macs, and could run the most of the popular desktop applications, such as Microsoft Office, Photoshop, etc. In the 2020s, Windows is still the de facto PC gaming platform, so much so that Linux game systems like the Steam Deck use a Windows emulation layer (Proton) to run PC games. Arguably Microsoft has done a decent job with developer tools and platforms (Visual Studio, DirectX, etc.) over the years, making Windows a somewhat attractive development platform. You might consider it "scummy tactics" but Microsoft did a pretty good job becoming a one-stop shop for corporate desktop software, including servers to manage them (Exchange) as well as cloud integration (OneDrive, Office 365, etc.) They also produced a groupware application (Teams) that provides a somewhat credible alternative to Zoom/Slack/etc. and is integrated with the rest of Microsoft's software. All this stuff can also work (sort of) on macOS and Linux, or even on the web, but it has better integration with Windows.
- Razengan 3y ago
  > but Microsoft did a pretty good job becoming a one-stop shop By eliminating the competition through scummy tactics, after shamelessly copying them.
ankurdhama 3y ago
This is because of the business model of Windows. Any company that wants to build and sell computers (aka OEM) can license Windows and use that as the OS of their computer. Apple on the other hand is a company that sell computers with their own OS. The OEM approach means that computers companies across the world can cater to the target market in terms of price and availability whereas Apple can never reach that scale across the globe. The end result is more people have access to and can afford computers that run Windows.

Windows is still a joke in 2024. I cannot fathom for the life of me how it could have ever gotten the market share it did without Microsoft's scummy tactics in the 1980s-2000s.

musicale 3y ago

In the 1990s, Windows PCs provided a cheaper alternative to Macs, and could run the most of the popular desktop applications, such as Microsoft Office, Photoshop, etc. In the 2020s, Windows is still the de facto PC gaming platform, so much so that Linux game systems like the Steam Deck use a Windows emulation layer (Proton) to run PC games. Arguably Microsoft has done a decent job with developer tools and platforms (Visual Studio, DirectX, etc.) over the years, making Windows a somewhat attractive development platform. You might consider it "scummy tactics" but Microsoft did a pretty good job becoming a one-stop shop for corporate desktop software, including servers to manage them (Exchange) as well as cloud integration (OneDrive, Office 365, etc.) They also produced a groupware application (Teams) that provides a somewhat credible alternative to Zoom/Slack/etc. and is integrated with the rest of Microsoft's software. All this stuff can also work (sort of) on macOS and Linux, or even on the web, but it has better integration with Windows.

Razengan 3y ago
> but Microsoft did a pretty good job becoming a one-stop shop By eliminating the competition through scummy tactics, after shamelessly copying them.

ankurdhama 3y ago

This is because of the business model of Windows. Any company that wants to build and sell computers (aka OEM) can license Windows and use that as the OS of their computer. Apple on the other hand is a company that sell computers with their own OS. The OEM approach means that computers companies across the world can cater to the target market in terms of price and availability whereas Apple can never reach that scale across the globe. The end result is more people have access to and can afford computers that run Windows.