On Tue, 2006-06-06 at 10:30 -0300, Alvaro Kuolas wrote:
MCA was the same, closed as Betamax. It was expensive, even a MCA add-on card was expensive (license cost were high).
Actually, ISA had moderate licensing costs too, but IBM didn't enforce them and lost the rights to do so. That is a long and deep discussion. IBM only enforced the licensing on MCA -- but it was too late.
People "chose" Windows because of it's availability and because it works out-of-the-box.
No, people choose MS Windows and MS Office because Microsoft got control of the distribution channel by paying "rebates" for other software. Germany's Vobis went from 100% DR-DOS to 100% MS-DOS because Microsoft not only gave them MS-DOS, MS-Windows and MS-Office for free, but paid Vobis $14/unit to "refund" the cost of DR-DOS. The man who "made" Microsoft it is today is not Gates or Ballmer, it's Kempin. Similar deals happened with various vendors around the world that bundled DR-DOS, Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect for Windows -- "rebates" for cost. Or Microsoft would give MS-DOS and MS-Windows for free with a sub-$50 MS-Office licensing cost for OEMs. The numbers don't lie -- Microsoft gained over 90% of its marketshare in 1 year due to PC OEM bundling. Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect for Windows outsold MS Excel and MS Word (including counting MS Office twice for each) 2:1 on the retail shelf -- before, during and after Microsoft's control of the PC OEM channel. Because over 90% of sales are the PC OEM channel. Even 3dfx outsold nVidia handily on the retail shelf, yet it didn't make a dent in nVidia's marketshare because it got 90% from the PC OEM channel.
I think that Windows it's great, Windows keeps "unintelligent computer users" in it's place.
It's more like "uninformed consumers" in their place. Microsoft has just moved from the OEM to the Superstore in more recent years. -- Bryan J. Smith Professional, technical annoyance mailto:b.j.smith@ieee.org http://thebs413.blogspot.com ------------------------------------------------------- Illegal Immigration = "Representation Without Taxation" -- Check the headers for your unsubscription address For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the archives at http://lists.suse.com Please read the FAQs: suse-linux-e-faq@suse.com