this post was submitted on 30 May 2025
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[–] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

This is how Microsoft has operated since day 1:

  • they let Dartmouth take the lead with Dartmouth BASIC and followed up with Altair BASIC (Microsoft’s very first product)
  • they let Gary Kildall take the lead with CP/M and followed up with DOS
  • they let WordPerfect take the lead and followed up with Word
  • they let VisiCalc and Lotus 123 take the lead and followed up with Excel
  • they let Apple take the lead on GUI with the Mac and followed up with Windows
  • they let Netscape take the lead and followed up with IE
  • they let Sony take the lead with PlayStation and followed up with Xbox
  • they let Apple take the lead with iPad and followed up with Surface
  • now they’re letting Valve take the lead with SteamDeck and following up with their own handheld
[–] MuskyMelon@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

"Let" is that the wrong word. Microsoft was setup specifically to make BASIC for the Altair. DOS they stumbled into because CP/M dropped the ball. Every other product, they've been chasing new markets that they didn't think of being in.

I'm critical about Xbox handheld/portable because it was so obvious that that's where the demand would come from.

However, they've been better at monetizing their other software and services better than anyone else though.

[–] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

My point here is that none of these cases feature Microsoft inventing a brand new product and trying to market it for the first time. Their whole strategy from the very beginning was to look for existing products with existing markets and try to conquer them. They even had a name for a variant of this strategy (targeted at open standards) which the US DoJ famously discovered during the antitrust trial:

Embrace, Extend, and Extinguish.