There was a time when computer technology was expensive and only obtainable by a few. Computer enthusiasts did their computing on a mainframe. It was like the Old West: An untamed world filled with excitement, intrigue and exploration of the unknown.
Youngsters like Bill Gates (who today owns a major computer software company) cut their teeth on the mainframe. Gates, like hundreds of others, did programming for others and eventually made money selling software (Gates' has a number of software packages on the market today).
But then Steve Wozinak and Steve Jobs came along and refined and marketed the "personal" computer. It was an odd beast at first. It's not that anyone knew what exactly they would do with the personal computer. The fact was they just wanted one.
Eventually, "Killer Apps" were written for personal computers and the use and need for the machines was realized.
Then came Macintosh.
The Mac was a dream. It was a dream that started at the Palo Alto Research Center. One day Jobs saw a demo and let's just say, "He was impressed."
The rest is history.
I still believe the Mac to be the best implementation of "personal computer" technology ever. We can thank Apple Computer for that. And we can thank Apple Computer for the OS the majority of the world runs: Windows (after all, the Mac was the first mass-marketed computer to use "windows).
I read an interesting analysis recently about the marketing of the Macintosh platform in Geoffery Moore's book, Inside the Tornado. Moore goes against popular Silicone Valley thought that says, essentially, if Apple would have licensed its Mac technology sooner, it could have had the lion's share of the desktop OS today.
Moore believes all markets must have a "Gorilla." Microsoft, obviously, is the Gorilla of the operating system world. He also states that surrounding the Gorilla are Chimps and Monkeys. Once the "Tornado" of market development ends and the Gorilla is established, several supporting and/or competing Chimps and Monkeys emerge.
Apple Computer and its Macintosh platform is seen as a Chimp by Moore. But what Apple has done with the Mac is essentially establish itself as a Gorilla in the niche computer markets of the world.
Desktop publishing, multimedia authoring, schools and the home are areas that Apple traditionally has been strong, despite Microsoft's dominance in the overall OS market.
Moore says if Apple would have licensed its Mac technology that in itself would have not guaranteed it would have won the OS war. In fact, it probably wouldn't have, he says. Microsoft benefited heavily from its "legacy" status with MS-DOS and basically has never looked back. Does Win95 contain DOS? Of course it does. Backward compatibility with IBM-based business applications (at least perceived backward compatibility) has helped drive Microsoft to the top of the OS heap.
I was one who felt that Apple could have owned the OS desktop market had it licensed its technology earlier. After reading Moore's book, I have paused and re-evaluated my thought processes and have to admit he has a point.
Well, I guess we will never know what "might have happened," but as Apple fights for its life today it is good to know that there is a possibility that the quirky computer company has made some good decisions in the past that as enabled "the rest of us" to enjoy the Cadillac of computer operating systems.
Thanks Apple.