Timeline for How exactly did Windows become the OS of the home PC?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
14 events
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| May 8, 2020 at 4:03 | comment | added | MaxW | RE: "PC manufacturers that chose Windows as the default OS, not users and consumers." -- I disagree. Users and consumers buy a computer and OS for the applications that can be run. Thus it was the multitude of software vendors selling windows applications that sealed Windows becoming the default OS. | |
| May 7, 2020 at 4:04 | comment | added | Tom | @BrianH these statements are not mutually exclusive. Yes, you could buy PCs both with and without Windows at that time. | |
| May 6, 2020 at 14:23 | comment | added | Brian H | @Tom My own recollection of Windows 3 is slightly different than yours. It was easy to buy a PC with Windows 3.1 pre-installed (along with DOS, obviously) and it was usually included in the price of the new PC. This making it a "no-brainer" for most all PC buyers, even if some opted for DOS only. | |
| May 6, 2020 at 12:35 | comment | added | Tom | @BrianH this is not entirely true. Win95 was the first that was commonly bundled with the machine, and even that not always. MS-DOS was a standard and it was even difficult to buy a machine without it, but before Win95, Windows was either an option or you had to buy it seperately, and even with Win95 it was easy to buy a PC with just DOS (I did just that for a BBS system I ran). Around Win98 it became almost impossible to get a computer without windows pre-installed. | |
| May 6, 2020 at 11:24 | comment | added | chrylis -cautiouslyoptimistic- | @Luaan Exactly my point: In the past, users were on the whole much more knowledgeable, and a "no OS" option is rather unambiguous. | |
| May 6, 2020 at 11:21 | comment | added | Luaan | @chrylis-onstrike- "The one with higher numbers is more powerful" was a pretty common heuristic. Even AMD vs Intel is mostly a branding thing. But Windows vs Linux is pretty much "my computer is completely broken" territory. The vast majority of PCs sold are not configurable even today (and computer users are even less knowledgeable than they were in the past). | |
| May 5, 2020 at 19:04 | comment | added | chrylis -cautiouslyoptimistic- | If the "typical users" weren't confused by specific options for RAM and hard drives, or for that matter several different versions of Windows, a "no Windows" option wouldn't have been any problem. For that matter, the typical user is probably substantially less aware of such matters today, and "no OS" options are available from most manufacturers that make configurable PCs. | |
| May 5, 2020 at 18:48 | comment | added | Brian H | @chrylis-onstrike- It's a good point that goes to the heart of some competitors' legal complaints against MS bundling. Those complaints did not resonate with typical PC buyers. We techies may have loved a "Choose your OS" option at purchase, but typical users would just be confused by it... | |
| May 5, 2020 at 18:14 | comment | added | chrylis -cautiouslyoptimistic- | This answer is also missing the critical fact that in order to get OEM licensing for Windows, OEMs had to pay for an OEM license for every PC shipped, regardless of whether Windows was included, which slaughtered any competitive market in a landscape when every other component could be customized. | |
| May 5, 2020 at 13:50 | history | edited | Brian H | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| May 5, 2020 at 13:48 | comment | added | Brian H | @WillHartung I think you are right. But even Microsoft's behavior vs. competitors is a small contribution compared to their superior understanding of consumer behavior. | |
| May 5, 2020 at 13:37 | comment | added | Will Hartung | it would be remiss to mention this facet of the spread of MS Windows and operating systems without mentioning the monopolistic behaviors of Microsoft (for which is was sanctioned) that curtailed the potential growth of competitive environments. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp. | |
| May 5, 2020 at 13:32 | history | edited | Brian H | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| May 5, 2020 at 13:22 | history | answered | Brian H | CC BY-SA 4.0 |