The other day, I had a brief exchange in a message board about operating system preferences and taste. The poster maintained that Windows is used on more than 90% of the world’s PC desktops because customers voted their preference, that they liked it better than all the rest.
Now I suppose it’s easy to reach that conclusion, based on the numbers alone, and the fact that Microsoft has held onto its dominance of the operating system market for many years. But the larger question is just how did Microsoft reach its vaunted position and on what basis do folks choose which PCs to buy?
Do you readers honestly believe that people select Windows after doing a genuine comparison with the Mac OS or other choices? How are such decisions made?
Well, I could deliver a few historical anecdotes about how Microsoft pulled a full bait and switch tactics, promising great things and, instead, delivering products that were, well, merely adequate? Or how Microsoft ran roughshod over other companies to attain its dominant position, finally confronting the Department of Justice dead on.
Story continued in this week’s Tech Night Owl Newsletter. [1]