Sabino Maggi
Whether you Like it or not, Microsoft is the world’s largest software maker that, through methods both fair and questionable, has managed to get its products installed on the vast majority of computers on the planet.
Today, Microsoft turns 50, and it feels like just yesterday when its two founders, Bill Gates and Paul Allen, assured Ed Roberts that they had a BASIC interpreter ready for his Altair 8800, the first truly personal computer, despite having never seen the Altair or the 8080 processor that powered it.
Qualche anno dopo, i due dimenticarono di dire a Tim Paterson, l’autore di QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System, ovvero il Sistema Operativo [fatto in modo] Veloce e Sporco) per il processore 8086, che avevano promesso ad IBM un sistema operativo per il suo imminente Personal Computer, che era basato proprio su quel processore. Così acquisirono i diritti di QDOS da Paterson per un tozzo di pane, lo ribattezzarono MS-DOS e lo licenziarono a IBM, catapultando Microsoft e sè stessi nell’olimpo dell’informatica e dei profitti.
A few years later, the two forgot to mention to Tim Paterson, the creator of QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System), that they had promised IBM an operating system for its upcoming Personal Computer, which just so happened to be based on the same 8086 processor. So, they acquired the rights to QDOS from Paterson for next to nothing, rebranded it as MS-DOS, and licensed it to IBM, launching Microsoft (and themselves) into the pantheon of computing and massive profits.
And then there were the blatant copies of the Windows user interface (right, Apple?), the borderline-intimidatory tactics with companies licensing Windows, and the use of Internet Explorer as a weapon to crush competition from other operating systems. Then came the lawsuits, the departure of Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer’s clowning around, the colossal failure of Vista, and the equally disastrous Windows 8.
But today is a celebration, so let’s play nice and clink our glasses.
– Image generated by Microsoft Designer AI.
Still, even on a day of celebration, I can’t help but ask Microsoft one question.
You’re celebrating half a century of history, you’re famous across the entire solar system, and you’re certainly not short on cash. So how is it possible that, for such a milestone anniversary, you couldn’t hire a half-decent artist to design better wallpapers than these?
P.S. Even those who stick to their smartphones can feast their eyes on this, or this, or even this and, if that’s not enough, on this.
