JFD: Good article. Don't know as how it's worth three posts, :-) but still... good article.
As you can probably tell from my previous posts, I certainly agree that IBM's failure with OS/2 is their own damned fault. However, it's too bad that Pournelle's memory is as defective as the rest of ours:
Windows for Workgroups did *not* become Windows 3.11. WFW as originally released as a 3.1 version, followed by a 3.11 version. Eventually Microsoft released a slightly-modified version of Windows 3.1, called Windows 3.11. Yeah I know, small stuff.
I don't particularly recall Bookshelf being the be-all and end-all that turned the tide, but then Pournelle is a science fiction writer so that stuff would be really important to him. I'd say that Excel (which was awesome on the original Mac and remains awesome today) had a bigger pull against OS/2 -- but then I work with Economists. Rather, I recall a stubborn resistance among word processing users to move to GUI packages; secretaries in particular hated them because they were so excrutiatingly slow and buggy.
I don't recall Apple II computers being much used in business, VisiCalc or not. I do recall CP/M computers -- running VisiCalc and WordStar -- being a big deal. Lotus' copy-protection schemes were onerous, that I'll grant; I recall having a copy of Symphony (remember Symphony?) that simply couldn't be used because of the 5.25" key floppy wouldn't work. Lack of copy protection was also a reason that Word Perfect was so popular. They were ahead of their time, making it trivial (although not explicitly encouraged) to copy and redistribute their software and trusting people to buy legal copies to get documentation and support.
Pournelle keeps admitting that Microsoft probably has harmed competition but refuses to admit that they've harmed consumers. As has been oft repeated on this board and elsewhere among Microsoft apologists, the link between these things that is explicitly recognized in law is totally ignored. Although I would expect that anyone who refuses to accept that link to see it, Pournelle trips himself up on this repeatedly -- here within a single paragraph:
"Many commentators loudly mourn the
innovations that might have happened had
Microsoft not suppressed them, but they
are shy of naming them. None seem to see
the innovations Microsoft has made to
Windows, which now incorporates dozens
of items we used to buy from third parties.
These include calculators, text and
programming editors, search functions,
games, file viewers, audio recorders and
players, networking, and, dare I say it, Web
browsers. None of these are necessarily the
best of their class, but most are adequate,
and their inclusion does not harm
consumers -- although it may well harm
competitors."
To quote Jerry himself, "Well, duh" and, "I could go on, but it's pointless". I will stop, however. Jerry went on for another eight paragraphs.
--Bob |
