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When I was younger, there was only Internet Explorer and all online communication happened through MSN. Games ran on Windows or on consoles and that was about it. When MSN waned, Skype quickly became the de facto personal VoIP platform and at that point Microsoft had already acquired it. I was conceptually aware of Macs, but I didn't know anyone who had actually used one. I know this isn't the typical experience around here, but where I grew up, Microsoft was simply the only option. They lost it all years later when Blackberry, Google and later Apple started to become serious competition. They couldn't get Windows Phone to succeed (despite its superior underpinnings), they lost to Chromebooks in education, and they failed to keep Office competitive enough to make it as ubiquitous as it once was. I'm surprised Xbox is still around at this point. Gates had a vision and a keen eye for opportunities. When he was leaving, Microsoft was dealing with a failed products and unexpected competition. (Vista, iPhone, Zune) and after he was gone it took a while before MS got its vision back. The company tried to go a wild, new direction after fixing Vista and turning it into 7 by going all-in on Windows 8. Mobile, tablets, desktop, and console were all moving towards the same, unified ecosystem and design, something that brought Apple great success. On the Windows side, though, I think it's safe to say Windows 8 was universally disliked, tolerated at best. Windows Mobile died because of its many backwards incompatible releases despite the lacking ecosystem. It's interesting to imagine what the world would look like if Microsoft had managed to make Windows Phone a success. I think that had 90s-Gates been at the helm, Microsoft could've even beaten the iPad. |