On Thu, 15 Feb 2001, Martin wrote:
> On Wed, 14 Feb 2001, Jon Biddell wrote:
>
> > 4. Re: the anti-trust case - no-one forced people to buy Windows - they
> > could have used CPM, Unix, OS/2, etc. etc. etc. Windows became the
> > "standard" because people liked it.
>
> Not so, a key issue in the anti-trust case was that Microsoft put
> illegal pressure on OEMs to bundle windows, and include it in the
> price. Many customers got very little choice in the matter, and this
> helped windows become the dominant consumer platform it is today. And as
> you correctly pointed out, like all M$ products it got where it did at
> least somewhat based on marketing, which is not quite the same as
> "consumers liked it".
The problem for MS now is that of market saturation. They've depended on
OEM bundling for so long, and the last few years has seen a world-wide
explosion in PC sales (driven by the attraction of cheap communications
with the Internet). But now almost everyone who can afford/want a computer
has one. PC Sales are dropping off and alot of home users don't upgrade
often, if ever.
We're starting to see MS becoming desperate as their revenue stream dries
up. They're looking for new markets to attack, like embedded devices
and the "enterprise" platform. Just look at all the FUD that came out
after the release of the "enterprise ready" Linux 2.4 kernel from places
like ZDnet, no doubt influenced by their #1 advertiser: MS.
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