Microsoft Paternity Case Settled

Many readers have written to tell us that last week, a Judge dismissed the defamation law suit brought by Tim Paterson, who sold a computer operating system to Microsoft in 1980, against journalist and author Sir Harold Evans and his publisher Little Brown. The software became the basis of Microsoft's MS-DOS monopoly, and the basis of its dominance of the PC industry."

Comments

Markets, not quality, decide predominance

[athloi]

It's a sad but iron fact of life that market viability and not the quality of the end product defines what lives and what ends up with the Amiga and other good ideas in the storeroom of history. This doesn't mean I like it. In fact, I'd like to live in a society where superior engineering was accepted over superior marketing. Any ideas? Will move, if there's even dialup internet access.

Re:Markets, not quality, decide predominance

[LWATCDR]

Sorry but not going to happen. It probably wouldn't be all that much better. What sells in the long run is what works. Windows for all it's warts does work for most people. Mac OS/X is selling because it works better for some people and Linux is gaining ground because it works for others.
If technical excellence was the only benchmark then Linux would also be in trouble. It is good but even Linux which I do like and use has it's warts. The difference is people are are free to fix the worst of them.

Re:"Dos"...

[jmyers]

In this case Darth Bill killed off all the younglings and there is no son to challenge the father.

Drama

[dgun]

But then Kildall was motivated by technical excellence, not by the need to dominate his fellow man

I'm a fan of Gary Kildall's, but was the last part of that statement even necessary?

Why interject commentary in an otherwise fairly objective and good article?