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What if Microsoft never existed?
While open-source fans and Apple lovers may dream of a world without Microsoft, Loyd Case of ExtremeTech has posited a very different non-Microsoft world: a dystopian nightmare in which PCs are still running CP/M, Apple's 15% market share has made it so complacent that its software barely functions, and software makers are still charging $1,000 for office suites featuring non-graphical versions of WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3. Far-fetched? Maybe. But the obvious point, that Microsoft has been a boon to the computing world by creating a standardized platform and driving down prices, is one that has been made before, though usually in a less entertaining fashion. Oh, and there is one bright spot in Case's alt-universe: the Amiga is still being actively developed, and continues to blaze new trails in computer graphics (though, of course, those trails were blazed long ago in the Microsoft-centric real world).
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Subscribe to commentsjames 42Oct 10th 2005 10:27PM
It was IBM that invented the open format PC that led to a dominant standard. Microsoft was simply lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. Whatever OS IBM chose was destined to become the dominant OS because the PC drove down hardware costs so much. Microsoft was not a very good choice and yet they still made it work, albeit not in an entirely in a legal fashion. That is not to say that Microsoft is all bad, but had someone else filled that slot, open source would likely not be an 'alternative' today, but rather the standard. The article also totally misses the mark with Apple. If Steve Jobs is anything, he is a fierce competitor who will compete against himself if there is no one on the field to challenge him.
Apparently, I am not the only one to see this as a totally bogus 'crystal ball' report as the current tally on the story (http://news.yahoo.com/s/zd/20051010/tc_zd/162101) is one and a half stars out of five (with 87 votes cast). It is that high only because the ratings start at one star, and not zero.
I love your site, but it is probably not a good idea to spread bad reporting. You have enough content with all the software that you do not need to pad it with other people's (poor) crystal ball gazing.