[JoeyBananas]

no matter how poorly Microsoft treats its users, no matter how much technical merit the alternatives have, no matter how much spyware and adware they include, people still flock to windows.

The way that Microsoft treats their customers reminds me of how the major world empires treat their citizens.

[eviks]

Given how much less technical merit the alternatives have it's not credible to claim that it doesn't matter

[rekabis]

It’s not a matter of technical merit, but one of first-mover advantage and vendor lock-in.

By many metrics LibreOffice is superior to Microsoft Office, but what keeps people locked to Microsoft Office is,

  1. Public consciousness/pervasiveness.
  2. Business integration via Excel’s scripting

By many metrics Linux is superior to Windows, but what keeps people locked to Windows is,

  1. Shattered UI experience across distros, leading to wildly different UI/UX that makes it unfamiliar and frightening to NPCs.
  2. Lack of interest from large software vendors to support anything other than the primary horse in the race.

Hell, that second one can even be seen with MacOS, with how many software vendors don’t even give a second thought to that platform aside from providing a highly lobotomized online-only version of their installable Windows-only software (looking at you, QuickBooks/Quicken/TurboTax).

[dimator]

well, yes, but windows at this point has a near-infinite network effect, with entire ecosystems and subecosystems dependent on it. gaming, for example, is still huge. so yes, it does technically suck, but just like with anything else, technical quality is not the only decision factor.