Gates had a point. Everyone was spending thousands on hardware but wouldn’t spend a little more for Basic. There were free options, they weren’t poor ( computer hardware was very expensive in the 70’s), but everyone was using Basic without buying it.
It’s like today where people will spend thousands for a gaming PC, then complain about Windows when they should be using Linux.
This is the story of non-free software. Software was mostly given and traded openly until good 'ol Bill Gates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Open_Letter_to_Hobbyists
Gates had a point. Everyone was spending thousands on hardware but wouldn’t spend a little more for Basic. There were free options, they weren’t poor ( computer hardware was very expensive in the 70’s), but everyone was using Basic without buying it.
It’s like today where people will spend thousands for a gaming PC, then complain about Windows when they should be using Linux.
But it’s literally reversed now? Windows is the only consumer-grade paid OS and it’s also the worst consumer-grade OS.
Bill Gates promised higher software quality and then delivered an OS, which has pretty much as its only quality that other software targets it.