[dylan604]

>How cool would it be to see what the Amiga, Atari ST, Spectrum, OS/2, BeOS, etc..

But all of these systems did exist. And for whatever reasons, they did not survive in the market. So the market decided they were not what was wanted.

[ghusto]

> So the market decided they were not what was wanted.

No, the competition decided what they wanted, by using shady-as-shit (as well as out right illegal) tactics to squash everyone else.

People _loved_ their Amigas, STs, Be boxes, etc. They loved them so much that there are still some nutjobs out there trying to keep Amiga alive! Do you think there'd be that kind of devotion for Windows 40 years later, if it died around 3.1?

No, the users didn't choose. A loose hand on monopoly law did.

[smegger001]

How much of that was the market decision and how much was illegal anticompetitive practices that got Microsoft in trouble a few decades ago? Paying manufacturers that used them while penalizing this that made other OS's available, amongst other practices. Hell the only reason Apple is around today is Microsoft bailed them out so the could point at apple and claim in court there was a compatator and therfore were not a monopoly back in the 2000s

[yjftsjthsd-h]

Or the market remained irrational longer than they could remain solvent. It's an economic system, it's not omniscient.

[sirsinsalot]

People using invisible hand / the market decided arguments gloss over the fact modern capitalism is yet to produce truly fair markers without corruption.

If only it was as simple as letting buying power decide.