a quick question

[Choad]

over the years of trawling tech forums/blogs i get an idea of how microsoft came to be, and its not all ugly but alot of it is. however on another forum i go to, someone is insisting that

MS are market leaders for a reason - their software is by far the easiest to learn and use

to which i replied no, and to cut a very long story very short, its down to their business practice and games

but he isnt having it... and im not about to go on a half hour rant trying to remember the chronology of microsoft and every cheeky thing they've done to ensure market dominance.

so, my question:

is there a site which DOES explain this that i can link to in these situations?

[~LoKe]

Wikipedia probably has some info on it.

[mostwanted]

Microsoft became market leaders because of momentum caused by the giant IBM. They've stayed market leaders because of their monopoly.

Their software is okay and the catalogue of third party software is very varied, but so is Apple's today, and so were the catalogues of many computer companies of the past.

[ComplexNumber]

Microsoft became market leaders because of momentum caused by the giant IBM.
yup, when IBM were market leaders in computers, they had the opportunity of tying the windows OS to THEIR hardware. instead, they blew the deal (it was also a cunning move by bill gates) and left MS able to strike deals with HP and all the other hardware companies. therefore, MS grew and IBM slowly died(in the hardware market at least).


Choad
MS maintain their monopoly mostly by being strict with OEM's and threatening to come down heavy on anyone who sells computers with a non-windows OS preinstalled.

[Choad]

yup, when IBM were market leaders in computers, they had the opportunity of tying the windows OS to THEIR hardware. instead, they blew the deal (it was also a cunning move by bill gates) and left MS able to strike deals with HP and all the other hardware companies. therefore, MS grew and IBM slowly died(in the hardware market at least).


Choad
MS maintain their monopoly mostly by being strict with OEM's and threatening to come down heavy on anyone who sells computers with a non-windows OS preinstalled.
for sure, but thats not the only reason. to list all the reasons, would require a lengthy article, which is what im looking for.

theres the directX games lockin. format lockin. OEM lockin. HUGE discounts to schools/unis to get the techies of the future used to windows only. etc. etc. im sure there are dozens of other things

[ComplexNumber]

for sure, but thats not the only reason. to list all the reasons, would require a lengthy article, which is what im looking for.

theres the directX games lockin. format lockin. OEM lockin. HUGE discounts to schools/unis to get the techies of the future used to windows only. etc. etc. im sure there are dozens of other things
there are, but that seems to be the main one as to how it manages to stay on about 80-90% of the world's PCs. thats slowly changing. china(and to a lesser extent, india) are going to be a huge influence on what the rest of the world does, and they are heavily in favour of linux and open source because it belongs to no-one and they can do as they please with it. china has recently started selling its own computers with its one processors and linux preinstalled, so lets see what comes of that.


as you mention, vendor lockin....thats also quite a big reason when it comes to businesses.
they are also very aggressive in their marketing and determination to secure contracts (one only has to see their determination to grab as many exclusive titles from under the noses of sony and nintendo. also their deals with various county councils in giving cash incentives for them to buy a microsoft contract).