This All Happened Before
All that variety was actually a problem for consumers. Since every machine required different software, users had to pick a company that would stay in business long enough to ensure that software would arrive and would continue to be supported for the life span of the computer.
If the killer apps they needed didn't make it to their platform of choice, users might end up stuck with an extensive investment in obsolete hardware.
The PC Platform Solution
Microsoft's DOS, running on various makers’ IBM-compatible PCs, resulted in a reasonably open market for hardware combined with a closed market for software. That benefitted businesses who wanted a stable platform for application development.
Businesses buying PCs wouldn't have to worry if DOS applications bought in 1984 would still be around a few years later, or if the latest applications would be available. They knew the market for DOS apps was large enough to provide for just about anything they might need.
The Macintosh in Windows
When Apple unveiled the Mac, it expected the world to recognize the benefits of a clear and consistent user interface, with keyboard shortcuts that worked the same in every application and followed intuitive letter associations. The Mac System Software provided standard methods for everything from printing to handling files.
The Mac didn't catch on outside of desktop publishing and graphic design, where its graphical user interface offered clear advantages. Instead, the PC world would wait ten years before Microsoft would bring out a similar graphical user interface for the majority of PCs used in businesses.
Apple's New Platform
Apple learned a few hard lessons: don't complacently throw away the lead, don't value immediate price advantages over long term sustainability, and don't let success distract from the threat of competition. The company is applying those lessons to its new platform.
Like the Mac, this new platform is cleaning up a messy set of random efforts using a clean user interface that is accessible and intuitive. Also like the Mac, this new platform provides consistent ways to do a variety of different things that previously were complex and problematic.
The following series of articles will describe what this new platform is, what it does for consumers and businesses, and why it will succeed in ways that Apple's earlier efforts with the original Mac did not. In addition to historical lessons learned, there are also changed circumstances and very different management and planning involved.
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This Series