Add a Comment
Email This
Statistics
RE: Then Everything Must Be Free
Apples struggles were in most part due to Microsoft DOS...no matter what the clone was, DOS was on it, like a parasite and no other programmers had any input.
But the reason DOS was everywhere was because IBM had let all the programmers know how to utilize their hardware.
Unless I misunderstood, the premise of the blog is that programmers should be associated with the hardware manufacturer. This, to me, seems like it would dramatically INCREASE the amount of "proprietaryness" in the industry because there would be no reason at all for a manufacturer to release interface specifications to anybody else, after all, software is in house.
Back to the DOS statement, if IBM had continued in the standard modus operandi of the times and kept their hardware and software to the themselves, Microsoft would have been limited to whomever they had a deal with to make their operating system. DOS would have been much less ubiquitous and the spread of PC's, in my opinion, would have been much slower. Consumers would have been hesitant to purchase something so expensive that may not be around next year or not be interoperable with the equipment at work.
So I think it's a chicken and egg scenario. Would we have gotten where we are today through complete and open means, pure proprietary means, or a hybrid of both. I think we got here as a "phased hybrid" of both - just in the opposite direction of your proposition. Now that we're here, though, it might be doable to have software and hardware linked together again. Wouldn't things be more useful as firmware interfaces anyway?
RSS
RE: Then Everything Must Be Free
The PC made it mainstream not because of Microsoft's DOS, rather it made it mainstream because IBM released all the specifications for it. Anybody could write anything for it and build anything for it. Apple and Amiga products struggled against that because they were so proprietary.
I beg to differ. Yeah, Apple struggled but it wasn't because of cloning wars...Apple has always had a loyal following because it's maintained the integrity of its product. Apples struggles were in most part due to Microsoft DOS...no matter what the clone was, DOS was on it, like a parasite and no other programmers had any input. Now that may sound like double talk because Apple was stingy with its software but I contest that was only because of the direction that the industry had already taken. And the other part of the challenges that Apple had was poor marketing. (I know they're saying thank goodness for Steve Jobs now) Microsoft was an absolute factor in the complete disabling of the software industry as it was once known, and the introduction of mediocre utilities (VB, DOS, etc. etc. etc.) and it will be the demise of Microsoft (as it is now known) that will reverse its crippling effects
View Full Discussion