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Vista vs. Cairo - A Microsoft History Lesson

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the something-to-read dept.

avocade writes "Here is a nice history lesson by (the unfortunately infamous) Daniel Eran, arguing why the Longhorn/Vista road is very similar to the NT/Cairo road that Microsoft took in the 90's, effectively trying their best to discourage competition in the marketplace."

2 of 194 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Ok, I'll bite. by johnw · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What did Windows 95 actually add? W95 actually followed on from W3.1 rather than W3.0. The main feature which it added (and the thing which drove Microsoft to release it) was incompatibility with OS/2. Because IBM had licensed access to the W3.1 source they were able to achieve first-rate compatibility for OS/2 running W3.1 programs, plus much better stability, multi-tasking etc. A crashing W3.1 program running on OS/2 simply took itself out rather than the whole system. Microsoft saw themselves potentially losing market share in a big way, so rushed W95 out.

    This has always been the way with Microsoft. They'll happily deny there's anything wrong with a product, no matter how much evidence exists that there is. The *only* thing that will move them to act is the prospect of losing market share to a better product.
  2. Bull... Once more for those who skipped class by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Being a monopoly is NOT illegal. It is leveraging the monopoly in an anti-competitive manner that is illegal.

    Items 1, 2 and 4 on your list are just good business sense. Monopoly or not.

    But "3. Working with third parties to offer incentives to provide your product solely." is illegal. If you leave off the word "solely" its ok, but when your "incentives" come off like strong-arm bullying, and the "solely" provision is the primary objective, that is anti-competitive. That is also what Microsoft was (repeatedly) found guilty of.

    And from what I've seen and heard of Vista, application of the other three items is questionable.