> everyone, including Microsoft, had been pushing OS/2 up until that point.
True up to a point. From at least the early 90s, Microsoft was trying like crazy to get companies to write Windows software instead ;-)
True up to a point. From at least the early 90s, Microsoft was trying like crazy to get companies to write Windows software instead ;-)
And it's worth noting that Windows itself didn't really show up big until Windows 3.11 for Workgroups. Win 3.1 Workgroup was released in October, 1992, and the really stable version, 3.11, in November of 1993. That was still being rolled out up to several years later (enterprises are conservative). There was app development for it, yes, but Microsoft seemed to have already established its Office strategy. (Just checked: the initial announcement was in 1988.)
This is somewhat ancient history, and I rather dimly remember it (my primary platforms then were already largely server: Unix and VMS, plus others), but desktop was how I accessed the "real computer".
Borland, Ashton-Tate and Lotus refused. In late 1987, Philippe Kahn said "People are afraid Microsoft is going to take control of the operating system." [1]
Microsoft was afraid that IBM going to take control of the operating system.
Windows 3.0 was enough of a success for Microsoft to intensify it efforts....