I'd give Microsoft credit for killing IBM's OS/2.
What really created the PC-compatible market was the creation of "clone" BIOS. I'd give Phoenix credit for that.
Dell gets credit for being a pretty efficient if not innovative box builder, first with a major online store (ironically it ran on NeXT software) to sell over that thing called the World Wide Web which was developed on NeXT computers.
IBM deserves some blame, if not credit, for allowing Microsoft the foot in the door with licensing which led to their excessive enrichment. If IBM has insisted on buying an OS outright, or developed their own, we probably wouldn't have had the widescale mess known as DOS and Windows. Microsoft basically bought DOS outright from someone else, so they didn't even innovate that.
DOS/Window success wasn't based on quality, but on licensing and taking away consumer choice (through dealing with manufacturers and bundling) as the article points out.
Dell gets credit for being a pretty efficient if not innovative box builder, first with a major online store (ironically it ran on NeXT software) to sell over that thing called the World Wide Web which was developed on NeXT computers.
IBM deserves some blame, if not credit, for allowing Microsoft the foot in the door with licensing which led to their excessive enrichment. If IBM has insisted on buying an OS outright, or developed their own, we probably wouldn't have had the widescale mess known as DOS and Windows. Microsoft basically bought DOS outright from someone else, so they didn't even innovate that. DOS/Window success wasn't based on quality, but on licensing and taking away consumer choice (through dealing with manufacturers and bundling) as the article points out.