Reply #114: Because Windows Had a Better Marketing Plan

[NashVegas]

Windows had a huge marketing advantage in opening their software to other computer makers. Not only did office purchasers here from Microsoft about how great the product was, they also heard from whatever the leading computer manufacturer du jour was.

I'm also guessing that Windows, even in its earliest incarnations in the 1980s, was more database-operation oriented; when office computers were first introduced into my field of work, it was almost always for database applications. The type that was most used by office-admin personnel for billing. Now - who makes the decisions about what computer is going to be purchased?

There was no shortage of Mac developers, but the popular Mac programs were about everything BUT databasing; desktop publishing, graphics, recording. I'm not sure exactly what you mean about developers being shut out: Quark wasn't shut out, Adobe wasn't, Aladdin wasn't, DigiDesign wasn't. Flying freaking toasters wasn't.

The pragmatist argument doesn't fly with most Mac users.

As for the iPhone? Just because I prefer Macs doesn't mean I'm going to rush out and buy one.