>If it
weren't for the low prices resulting from the economy of scale,
scale
>which is enabled by the fact that Microsoft
made computers simple enough
to
use that
the masses could and would use them.
There were plenty of other players on
the scene. Just look at DEC. They
wanted to make computers more costly, less convenient, less accessible.
It's justice that they're history! They weren't alone in this and I expect
some of the others, notably IBM, to go away eventually as well, though
probably not as kindly as DEC went. They, at least, are working on bringing
new technology to the market, rather than repainting the old stuff and
trumpeting that the new color made it new technology.
OK, I can no longer resist commenting on this. WHERE IS MICROSOFT'S
INNOVATION?!?!?!
Let's look at some of their programs through the years.
MS BASIC:
Basically a port of DEC BASIC
MS DOS:
They bought a clone of CP/M
MS Windows:
Mac OS
MS Windows NT:
OS/2 and VMS (OK, so they did help develop this, but OS/2 was trash until
IBM took it over. Of course IBM blew it big time with OS/2.)
MS Windows 95:
Mac OS and NeXTstep (OK, the "System Properties" in the "Control
Panels" is
the one mildly cool thing about this. I don't know if there is prior art
of any type for this.).
MS Explorer:
Netscape (I won't even credit them with having looked at Mosaic)
MS Window 98:
Bug fixes for '95 and bundled MS Explorer
MS Windows 2000:
Technologies bought from everywhere, just how much of OpenVMS have they
licensed/bought for this? I actually want to give it a try, but haven't
had the chance.
MS Word:
Various word processors
MS Excel:
Various spreadsheets
MS PowerPoint:
Harvard Graphics
MS Foxpro (is this still around):
They bought it
MS Access (isn't this the one that was a failed communications product):
?
MS Access (the DB):
Various Databases, it's got a rep for loosing data last I heard.
MSASM, MS Fortran, MS C, etc.:
Ports of existing stuff
MS Visual BASIC:
Now this one has bothered me for several years, did they buy the underlying
technology or copy something that already existed. I've a strange feeling
that this one was actual innovation!
There is other stuff, but I think that paints a fairly accurate picture of
their innovation!
Basically their innovation is in copying existing stuff, repackaging it,
and tricking people into thinking they've just come up with something new.
Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
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| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
|
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