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Originally Posted by wgrimm
No, not at all. During MS-DOS days, M$ was one among many operating systems- like DR-DOS, PC-DOS, Concurrent, etc. When Windows 3.1 was released, it quickly became the most-pirated operating system ever. The piracy gave M$ overwhelming market share.
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MS-DOS
before the dominance of the IBM PC, then yes, I agree with you. I used to run Concurrent CP/M. Wonderful multi-tasking o/s years before Windows came along.
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These bundling deals (or "coercions," because that is what they were) didn't exist in Windows 3.1 days.
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Sorry, but I must disagree with you. IBM approached Microsoft and licenced both ROM BASIC and PC-DOS (MS-DOS) in time for the release of the original IBM PC in 1981. Microsoft's core business at the time, as you may recall, was the supply of ROM BASIC to all the numerous models of personal computers out there - that's how Bill Gates made his few few million $. It was that deal which launched Microsoft on the road to world domination. I must point out that there was no "coercion" involved - it was IBM who approach Microsoft, not vice versa.
All that was in 1981. Windows 3.1 wasn't released for another 11 years, in 1992. By that time, MS-DOS already "ruled the world" and was shipped with basically every computer sold.
If you haven't read it already, try to read Robert X. Cringely's wonderful book "Accidental Empires", which is the story of how all this stuff happened.