On Dec 4, 2008, at 12:20 PM, lampbay wrote:
> After all, Microsoft didn't > crush Apple like it is rumored to have Commodore, Amiga and others. It's easy to crush competitors who shoot themselves in the foot with machine guns first. Commodore squandered the lead they had by thinking it was just a toy computer they had on their hands. Digital Research wanted too much to license GEM, got tangled up in pointless lawsuits, and tied themselves to computers more associated with video games than business. Xerox rolled right over PARC without even realizing that they had actually invented the modern personal computer. (...and the laser printer...and ethernet...) Novell reduced themselves to a bit player by, first, spending too much for, then thoroughly ruining WordPerfect, followed by their ill- advised attempt to take on Microsoft on the server side AND on the desktop side, neglecting their server side lead. (also they were hobbled by the then long tail of previous, incompatible Netware installations, and a pricing structure that was right for the 80's and suicidal for the 90's) Apple's the only major commercial "competitor" to Microsoft that's really thrived, mainly by doing the whole widget themselves, and not really being Microsoft's competitor. And they came very close to going down in the 90's. The closest Microsoft ever came to 'crushing' anyone was their Internet coup against Netscape, and lordy, we're STILL paying for that decision with every spam we get. (It was the advent of, and borg-like burrowing into the operating system of Internet Explorer that made it dominant on Windows desktops and windows systems open to every bit of online malware ever to come along the pike.) That was the one time since they got very big that Microsoft was able to turn quickly. It's been compared to turning an oil tanker around as if it were a jet ski, and it was. Microsoft went from 'Duh, what's this Inter-Net thing?' to top player in about a year. Ever since they've tried to emulate that turnaround, but that was a fortuitous set of circumstances, not easily repeated, at least not at Microsoft. There have been a bunch of smaller companies that got squished along the way. -- Bruce Johnson University of Arizona College of Pharmacy Information Technology Group Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed Low End Mac's G3-5 List, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
