On Sat, 2005-03-19 at 20:06 -0700, Craig White wrote:
> conveniently ignoring the fact that Windows 1.0/2.0 were so completely
> and utterly useless - that even Microsoft doesn't categorize them as a
> Desktop OS in the above referenced chart.
Yeah, I'm not sure the 1.x/2.x ever made it outta Redmond, but I
know 3.0 did, and it was kinda panned. But the boxart on it showed me
where they were going (well, before they went nuts) and I knew this was
the proverbial 'it'. I knew almost nothing of Macs; not much more than
that they were there, and only in black and white. This, seemed better
on first glimpse.
> conveniently ignoring the fact that Windows 3.0 was a yawn, 3.1
> (released 1992) got some attention but was still an overlay on DOS and
> all of the programs were still DOS based. Computers shipped with it -
> few people actually used it.
Sure, it was slow to start up, but that didn't stop the investors.
In about another year they started a 'hell no, we won't go' move to keep
things DOS, but like CP/M before it, it wouldn't really last.
And as a DOS overlay, that's not to say it wasn't useful; people
loved DOS. Some places are still running it, believe it or not. It's
'mechanically' simple and by now very, very well documented. Heck, it's
not coming back to the mainstream, and you _really_ don't want to do
your taxes on it, but it maintains a certain amount of basic
reliability. And having an easy 'menu-like' system to start programs
and do more things WYSISYG, was a big improvement over the 80x25, white-
on-black.
> It wasn't until 'Start Me Up' - August 1995 - the simultaneous release
> of Windows 95 and Office 95 (collective) or individual components that
> anyone really cared about Windows.
Yes: Windows development was somewhere in the neighborhood of DOS
(still with many staunch resistors) when Win95(a) came out. That's
where the curve turned much more upward..about a year later, when enough
people saw it was worth upgrading to.
And it was; that really _was_ a big step forward, even if TCP/IP was
like a foreign language to it. It wasn't installed by default, ya had
to know what you were doing and know which part to install, but it was
pretty easy. Win98 was even better; probably the best workstation
arrangement they ever made.
> I think that if you want to defend Brian's statement that 'Linux was
> borne from the general notion that we're sick of Microsoft's antics' you
> should garner the courage to do so.
>
> Are you suggesting that Microsoft Windows 1.0 motivated Linus to develop
> his kernel?
Oh, heck no; we when Windows was a pup, AT&T was the big 'you'll do
it our way' provider. Remember these people had the 'phone police';
remember that? This wasn't too long after the breakup, as I recall.
They managed in only 10 years to turn Unix from one of the top dogs
(alongside VMS, what have you) into something nobody
wanted...specifically because of the license, and enforcement thereof.
This kind of customer-oblivious nature and strict control over the
source code started this whole ball rolling. Microsoft just made sure it
hit individuals square in the head, requiring a whole host of add-ons to
fill in where the OS left off; CleanSweep, The Antivirus legions, and on
and on.
It's only been since about 1993-1995 that Microsoft understood the
power it wields, and has been using it to stamp out innovation, whether
it's intentional.
> If you don't wish to defend that statement - you absolutely have no
> point to make here.
Yeah, and I was more than happy to let it die, thinking it either
got the message across, or no one was going to. But I still maintain
that if you want to stop viruses in your workplace, you don't make
everyone walk around in rubber suits....you kick Microsoft to the curb.
When the script-kiddies come to Linux, we'll deal with them.
--
Those who entrust life and limb to Microsoft deserve neither. -Me, 2005
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Brian Fahrländer Christian, Conservative, and Technomad
Evansville, IN http://www.fahrlander.net
ICQ: 5119262 AIM: WheelDweller
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