this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2025
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Opinion Windows 1 and 2 flopped almost as badly as OS/2 did. How did Microsoft stage one of the greatest comebacks ever with Windows 3?

Earlier this month, we took a look at how Microsoft learned important lessons from the failure of OS/2, even though less than a decade later, it had already started forgetting what went wrong and why. Such organizational amnesia has a long history. For instance, in the middle of the 1700s, the Royal Navy worked out how to cure scurvy, but by the end of the 1800s, it had forgotten again.

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[–] caseyweederman 5 points 1 week ago

Nina Kalinina's Windows 2: Final Fantasy of operating systems.

Okay good, I was gonna be mad but they linked Nina's work up front.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

Windows actually had some decent competition until windows 3.1. There was GEOS and GEM for example. There were even competitors to Office like WordPerfect and Lotus 1 2 3.

I’m guessing Windows 3 finally had a decent set of APIs for app manufacturers to take advantage of. Or maybe Microsoft was better at including drivers by then or something.