4 ms·

People play up Bill Gates’ connections, sure, but next to no 16-year-olds could program BASIC in assembly. Microsoft’s success was as much to do with them bein

People play up Bill Gates’ connections, sure, but next to no 16-year-olds could program BASIC in assembly. Microsoft’s success was as much to do with them being a programming languages company first. DOS, Windows 3.1, and even Windows 95 shipped with an interpreter and compiler for their BASIC and C, respectively. This empowered developers to use and write code for the OS out-of-the-box.

nine_k 2y ago
Correct regarding the BASIC. MS DOS (and even MSX BASIC and MSX DOS) was pretty important though in the grand scheme of the ecosystem forming. But neither Windows nor DOS shipped with a C compiler; it's not a Unix. DOS shipped with an IDE for BASIC, and compilers were available but not free. The more accessible option was Turbo Pascal (and then Delphi 1), Visual Basic was also popular but more costly. GCC appeared in 1987 but only worked acceptably under Unix-like OSes.
bluedino 2y ago
Microsoft shipped OSes with a crappy version of BASIC. But every computer did, before the PC came out.
- bogantech 2y ago
  The BASIC interpreter on most of those other computers was written by Microsoft
LtWorf 2y ago
Windows didn't come with any C compiler out of the box. And no basic either. Where did you get this idea? Also qbasic was not the same as quickbasic, and it had a limit on the LOC and other limitations.
- unregistereddev 2y ago
  Windows 95 and 98 came with QBasic, but it was not installed by default. It was an optional "extra feature" that could be added from your Windows installation media. I do not know about earlier versions of Windows.
  - LtWorf 2y ago
    qbasic is not a C compiler. It was also not possible to make windows applications with it… and it lacked the option to generate a .exe file. It was more of a toy.
    - unregistereddev 2y ago
      I apologize for misreading your post, I thought you asserted that Windows did not come with QBasic. I'm well aware of what QBasic was - it's what I used when I first learned programming. It was an excellent toy for 12yo me.
wkat4242 2y ago
Hmm yeah Gates was a bit of a programming prodigy sure. But none of Microsoft's success really has anything to do with that. It was all about smart business acumen, starting with the deal made with IBM, being allowed to sell MS-DOS to PC clone makers.
MangoCoffee 2y ago
To me, Visual Basic (not Visual Basic .NET) was the game changer for Microsoft. It empowered many power users (user, not programmer) to create software that they couldn’t find on the market.

nine_k 2y ago

Correct regarding the BASIC. MS DOS (and even MSX BASIC and MSX DOS) was pretty important though in the grand scheme of the ecosystem forming. But neither Windows nor DOS shipped with a C compiler; it's not a Unix. DOS shipped with an IDE for BASIC, and compilers were available but not free. The more accessible option was Turbo Pascal (and then Delphi 1), Visual Basic was also popular but more costly. GCC appeared in 1987 but only worked acceptably under Unix-like OSes.

bluedino 2y ago

Microsoft shipped OSes with a crappy version of BASIC. But every computer did, before the PC came out.

bogantech 2y ago
The BASIC interpreter on most of those other computers was written by Microsoft

LtWorf 2y ago

Windows didn't come with any C compiler out of the box. And no basic either. Where did you get this idea? Also qbasic was not the same as quickbasic, and it had a limit on the LOC and other limitations.

unregistereddev 2y ago
Windows 95 and 98 came with QBasic, but it was not installed by default. It was an optional "extra feature" that could be added from your Windows installation media. I do not know about earlier versions of Windows.
- LtWorf 2y ago
  qbasic is not a C compiler. It was also not possible to make windows applications with it… and it lacked the option to generate a .exe file. It was more of a toy.
  - unregistereddev 2y ago
    I apologize for misreading your post, I thought you asserted that Windows did not come with QBasic. I'm well aware of what QBasic was - it's what I used when I first learned programming. It was an excellent toy for 12yo me.

wkat4242 2y ago

Hmm yeah Gates was a bit of a programming prodigy sure. But none of Microsoft's success really has anything to do with that. It was all about smart business acumen, starting with the deal made with IBM, being allowed to sell MS-DOS to PC clone makers.

MangoCoffee 2y ago

To me, Visual Basic (not Visual Basic .NET) was the game changer for Microsoft. It empowered many power users (user, not programmer) to create software that they couldn’t find on the market.