#9 - Has Microsoft been good for the computer community?
Microsoft pretty much dominates the desktop computer space. Many people view this as bad. Do you think the computer industry would be at its current level if Microsoft hadn’t unified things with 1 common OS? Is getting everyone buying computers because of Windows or was it going to happen anyway? Is it still a good thing that most people are standardized on Windows or would the industry be better off with more share by Linux and Mac?
Eric Smith - Mind Architecture - The most valuable thing Windows did for desktop computing was separating hardware from software, allowing hardware manufacturers and programmers to design to a common interface and guaranteeing users that any software they bought would work on Windows, no matter their hardware configuration.
I don’t think we would enjoy nearly as many of the technological advancements we do today if this hadn’t happened.
That said, I don’t think any one company should own the desktop market but I think we’re beyond being able to fight Microsoft’s domination. Linux and Apple simply don’t offer the average user a compelling reason not to use Windows.
With more applications becoming network/internet based, I think the importance of the operating system will be diminished in the near future.
In order to serve as many end users using as many devices as possible, distributed applications will have to be designed to an interface. As long as an operating system implements that interface, it won’t matter whether it’s Windows, Mac, Linux, a specialty browser, a cell phone, PDA, etc.
Maybe that will allow competing operating systems or hybrid operating systems to gain a foothold…