Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
> On Wed, 12 May 2010 16:31:19 -0700, Darren New wrote:

> >  It wasn't perfect, and
> > it lacked a lot of features, but it worked fairly well if you were in
> > their target market, compared to anything else close to the same price.

> I have always said Microsoft was good at making products that were "good 
> enough" for users.  Not outstanding, but they really found the right 
> breakeven point for the users when it came to marketing/pricing their 
> products and incorporating enough features that they met the needs of a 
> large number of users.

  One shouldn't, though, forget the marketing tactics Microsoft used, and
is still using, to enforce their products on people.

  While other software companies were content simply advertising their
products, MS often went one step ahead and actually lobbied or made
contracts with PC vendors so that their products would be included by
default in all sold PC's. I don't know how the situation is today, but
at least some time ago there were many places in the US where you simply
could not buy a PC without Windows. (You could have the vendor remove
Windows from the PC, but that would not affect the price of the PC. You
would still be paying for Windows.) And this goes all the way back to
the early days of DOS. (Many people don't remember that there was, in fact,
competition on the OS market on those days, even for the PC, and even with
DOS-compatible systems. However, MS succeeded in making DOS such an
ubiquitous product that people don't even remember that back then there
were actually alternatives, even compatible ones.)

  I find it rather obnoxious when Steve Ballmer, when questioned some time
ago about the problems with Windows Vista, referred to it as "the second
most used operating system in the world" (obviously referring to XP as
the most used one), like that was some kind of indication of its quality,
like it was some kind of indication of what people prefer. The fact is,
however, that Vista didn't get so popular by choice: It was (and may even
still sometimes be in some cases) pre-installed in the vast majority of
new PC's (both desktop and laptop), and the vast majority of consumers
had no choice than to buy it. Most of the people who buy a PC don't know
enough about computers to really have a choice: It's the computer vendor
who makes the decision of which OS they will buy, not the customer. And
ultimately, albeit indirectly, it's really Microsoft who is making the
decision of which OS customers will buy, not the customer himself.

  Being "the second most used operating system in the world" is not saying
much about *quality* when we are talking about Vista. It only tells how well
MS has succeeded in their marketing tactics.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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