Windows 95 wiped out last PC competition

Windows 95 marked the last time Microsoft faced any "serious competition" in the PC operating system market, an analysts recalls, as the software vendor gets ready to launch its much-anticipated Windows 7.

Written by Victoria Ho, Contributor Oct. 20, 2009 at 9:57 p.m. PT

Martin Gilliland, vice president of go to market strategies at Frost & Sullivan, said Windows 3.0's focus on offering a user-friendly interface brought Microsoft founder Bill Gates' vision of a "PC on every desk" closer to reality. But, mass adoption was seen only from Windows 95, which ended up winning the PC OS battle against IBM's OS2, Gilliland said in an e-mail interview with ZDNet Asia.

"Windows 95 was the real boon for Microsoft. With it, we saw mass adoption of PCs in businesses and started to see more and more [of the platform] in the home," said the analyst. He noted, however, that its triumph over OS2 was mostly due to Microsoft's marketing and sales clout.

"The one big difference between Microsoft and Apple is that Microsoft allows Windows to be installed on any device with a license, [while] Mac OS can only be loaded and run on an Apple device," he said.

Read more of "Windows 95 wiped out last PC competition" from ZDNet Asia.

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Windows 95 wiped out last PC competition

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