Re:The Case Against Apple
by ghshephard on Sunday August 09, 2009 @01:16AM
(#750370)
" Microsoft destroyed Netscape as well as BeOS"
Two Points:
o Netscape Sold for a negotiated $4 Billion, and on it's final day of trading was worth $10 Billion. Microsoft may have (illegally as it turns out) wiped out the Netscape Browser as a profitable product for Netscape, but they hardly _destroyed_ Netscape.
o BeOS? Good Lord, if anything Microsoft would have _funded_ BeOS if only to create the illusion of there being competition in the OS market. BeOS collapsed when Jean-Louis Gassée was unable to close a deal with Apple. There really was no market for a Fourth major platform (Mac, Linux and Microsoft being the other three floating around in 1996/1997). Having a delightfully smooth OS doesn't really mean a lot if there are no applications for the platform - and, for better or worse, Microsoft had/has a vast array of developers and applications.
Two Points:
o Netscape Sold for a negotiated $4 Billion, and on it's final day of trading was worth $10 Billion. Microsoft may have (illegally as it turns out) wiped out the Netscape Browser as a profitable product for Netscape, but they hardly _destroyed_ Netscape.
o BeOS? Good Lord, if anything Microsoft would have _funded_ BeOS if only to create the illusion of there being competition in the OS market. BeOS collapsed when Jean-Louis Gassée was unable to close a deal with Apple. There really was no market for a Fourth major platform (Mac, Linux and Microsoft being the other three floating around in 1996/1997). Having a delightfully smooth OS doesn't really mean a lot if there are no applications for the platform - and, for better or worse, Microsoft had/has a vast array of developers and applications.