As did I, in fact I remember the centralized computing age as well.

First off when Windows was released Linux wasn't even in existence yet. On top of that When widnows 3.0 was released (Probably the first popular Windows) Linux still did not exist. So no Linux would have no effect on the computer industry when MS started releasing windows. Apple was starting to make poor business decisions and couple that with the cost of an Apple computer vs. a IBM/PC people started shifting to Windows based machines. Users who were afraid of computers because of the clunky and bulky Command line itnerface finally had a chance to get into computing at a lower cost then an Apple. And how long before linux got a Windows Manager?

So since MS was smart enough to see a business opening and grabbed it and squeezed it they became massively huge. Thats how busineses become good. Otherwise we would all still eb stuck behind some silly throwback command line interface with probably 1/4th the amount of users of computers we have now and dial up internet connection because there would be no need for speed. On top of that you had in 1999 AOL and other large ISP's doing $300 rebates on PC if you signed up for the itnernet I believe that was the secon dbig boom in PC's. And look at the platform those ISP's wrote their software for. Windows. WHy? Because its what came first to the PC world that was popular enough to focus your company on writing software for it (at least on the IBM/PC)

Usrs do not care whats super technically superior or which is better coded. They want to take it out of the box plug it in and it goes. Linux was slow getting to the point where windows was in terms of ease of use. On top of that you have the gamer generation. People who bought new PC's just to play games. Look at Quake. It needed a Pentium class PC. How many people bought quake when it first came out? How many of those users probably switched from their 486 to a Pentium just to play a game? A lot.

I am not sayign Linux is sucky I am just saying thats how I believe the computer world moved foward and why Linux became so big.

"As did I, in fact I remember the centralized computing age as well."

I guess I never really got into the centralized computing rut and tended to use a variety of systems through the period. I did use MS products briefly off and on, but preferred alternatives when available as they were often better. Windows was mostly used as a games platform after the DOS era and before linux supported many games...

But I really don't understand why competition is not seen as a good thing in the computing world. Certainly seems to be a good thing in the hardware area...

"On top of that you have the gamer generation. People who bought new PC's just to play games. Look at Quake. It needed a Pentium class PC. How many people bought quake when it first came out? How many of those users probably switched from their 486 to a Pentium just to play a game? A lot."

I struggled to get a machine big enough to play doom - dang had to get 4 meg of ram on the 386 and even then it was a dog to install and I needed a trimmed down boot floppy. Then there was the quakeupgrades to the pentium. Then the 3D card upgrades. Latest was getting the A64 to play HL2 and doom 3.... Games certainly help drive the hardware upgrade

To answer your question about why people shy away from competition in the software realm I think its simple. Windows dominates the field with at least 90% market share. This means companies who want to make money can focus on the program itself for one platform and be done with it. If Windows was 30% Linux was 30% and Mac was 30% then software devolpers would need to port their software to each platform to maimize their profits. Same for games. OpenGL was nice but DirectX has taken over pretty much before it simply looks nicer. Game devolpers prefer it because of its ease and overall package (they can program everythign via DirectX) And the sdk is free for it. So since the majority of gamers run Windows machines it very simple right games for Windows utilize directX which people like to program for and look at and make money.

asmof, the real pusher behind the craze was not gaming. That was a niche market up until the p2's. It was the ability to share documents, to use office, and to perform business tasks. From your perspective, gaming might have seemed a big to do...but I guarantee you from the business side(and that's the side that pays 300 dollars for an office suite), it was all about applications. Microsoft made their money not on widows, they made it on office. And all that would run office, was windows(and later mac). Suddenly businesses(you know, the people who buy hundreds of computers, vs. 1 computer) were buying up the pc in droves. It was not having to buy a million dollar mainframe for your business that set the pc flying, not doom.

Microsoft did not make the original popular office software. MS took over a market created by others.

I don't disagree that office apps and such did not sell the pc's. I just think that games pushed hardware development harder... Nothing really to do with bulk sales - just as it is today. The high end gamers remain a minority, but they buy the latest hardware. The office boxes are often quite a bit behind that in power and tech...

For the competition side. I notice that many apps are ported to MS and to apple. THere does not seem to be a real problem there.