Why do you think Microsoft has emerged as a global leader in software industry?

Answer 1

There are a number of reasons. (I still can't believe what Microsoft has done over the years) First and foremost is that Bill Gates is a marketer with no conscience. IBM and Microsoft had signed non-compete contracts and were working together on OS/2. Things were coming along quite nicely (OS/2 was what Windows wanted to be as far as stability and usability) until Microsoft announced that they were releasing Windows 95 and pulled all the code from OS/2 that they and IBM had been working on to re-use it in Windows. They have actually innovated NOTHING. Anything cool that Microsoft has done can be traced back to another company that Microsoft either copied and drove out of business or bought out via a hostile takeover.

ChuckP - haven't you wondered WHY they are in every PC? (Read your computer industry history.) Simple it goes back to agreements that were signed in the 1980's - that's right, the 1980's - that pretty much FORCED OEMs (like Compaq, HP, IBM, etc) to have Microsoft's latest operating system on every computer manufactured by the OEM. At first, they were the cheapest on the block; they had underbid CP/M for IBM's business. IBM, thinking that the PC was a fad, signed the agreement that they would buy a license for each PC to run Microsoft's latest operating system. (No, they didn't buy the operating system! This is a HUGE distinction. They ONLY bought a license to run it. It's the same today. You DIDN'T buy Windows with your PC - you bought a license to run Windows on that PC and no other.) Other OEMs fell in line because at that time IBM owned the computer market and following them was simply good business. Soon other companies came out with Microsoft-like operating systems for less money and the OEM's tried to include these. Microsoft took them to court and sued them out of existence (Quantum PC, AST, Leading Edge PC) or made them drop the lower priced operating system. Later, when IBM tried to sell their own PCs with their own OS/2 Microsoft took IBM to court and won because of the agreement that IBM and Microsoft signed.

Even now, when you buy a Linux-based PC from an OEM (like Dell) it comes with a Microsoft operating system to fulfill the agreement that Dell signed with Microsoft. That way, Dell can continue to get the volume discounts from Microsoft for all their products. It's pretty much that way with every OEM.

Microsoft continues to litigate against anyone who they deem is copying them when, in fact, that is precisely how they became what they are today. Stac Electronics had an on-the-fly disk compression scheme that worked great. Microsoft copied it and incorporated it into DOS 6. End result: Stac sued Microsoft and ended up winning but Microsoft strung it out so long that Stac went bankrupt and used the winnings to pay off debts. And Microsoft kept using the disk compression. It's standard issue as of Windows NT4. There are literally dozens of companies that Microsoft has done the same thing to.

Other ways that they have done things is to purchase companies. Microsoft did not create MS-SQL; they purchased Sybase SQL and rebranded it. Microsoft did not create Excel - it was an update to Multiplan which was a copy of Visicalc. Internet Explorer was originally a port of Spyglass Mosaic. The list here goes on and on.

THAT is why Microsoft has emerged as a global leader. And I use the term "leader" loosely - the one and ONLY thing they lead in is marketing. Technically speaking Windows is a kludge of spaghetti code that breaks continuously. All distributions of Linux and Unix are much more robust. As an example, my PC that I'm typing this on has Windows XP on it and has been up for about 5 days straight. It's starting to act flaky - phantom mouse movement, slow window response, slow keyboard response etc. (Yes, I know what I'm doing - I work in tech support for a $2.5 billion company) I'll probably have to reboot it. Contrast that to my FreeNAS server which is running on a four year old Celeron computer that I had. It's been up for 50 days and has not had any problems - it stores my program installs, streams my music and streams DVD video as well without a hitch. The reason it's only been up for 50 days is that we had a power outage in my home 50 days ago and I had to take it down, otherwise it would be over four months without any issues. Microsoft operating systems can't come close to that.

Answer 2

They were smart when computer were being born. Companies like Apple were so proprietary they shot themselves in the foot in infancy and so Microsoft had no competition.

Answer 3

Because they are in every PC in the world, the numbers are boggling. They were in the right place at the right time.

Answer 4

Marketing and that alone. Apple is better. Omega is better. Bill Gates marketed better.

Answer 5

because they suck with hardware.