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Our Blogs The BeerFiles Gates chose the right time to leave Microsoft
Our Blogs The BeerFiles Gates chose the right time to leave Microsoft | Gates chose the right time to leave Microsoft |
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| by Stan Beer | |
| Sunday, 29 June 2008 | |
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Page 1 of 3 The release of Windows 95 finally saw Microsoft deliver a desktop operating system that could be used by ordinary workers without resorting to the command line. Apple had done that a decade earlier but decided its future was not software, so it was Gates not Jobs who put a computer on nearly every desktop in the developed world. However, Gates, being a man of vision, knew that his dream of desktop world conquest would be relatively short lived. He witnessed with dismay how a young upstart company called Netscape demonstrated to the world that there were higher dimensions of computing called the Internet and the World Wide Web. Gates knew how to crush the fledgling Netscape but he also knew that he could not crush the Internet. It was a new paradigm which would eventually make Microsoft's desktop technology obsolete. I can remember reporting on a leaked internal memo that Bill Gates issued to Microsoft staff in 1995 which was a literal call to arms to fight both Netscape (not mentioned by name) and the onset of the Internet. It was obvious to Gates that the cards were on the table and the Internet was holding all the Aces. CONTINUED |
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