RE: Strategic Orientation - Scope, Scale, or Means of Monopoly

["John Robert BEHRMAN" <jbehrman@netropolis.net>]

Dan's discussion -- I won't quote it -- goes to the heart of path
dependence. He suggests that IBM/Microsoft/WP/Lotus, the lot, all tried to
ape Apple with a non-standard keyboard (hardware) and keystrokes (software)
to lock in users. No doubt. This is pretty legal "product differentiation"
though.

So, how did MS one-up these others? He does not say. But, he certainly does
illuminate the compound effect of small, early departures from commodity
standards.

I think the foundation of MS monopoly, the apex of an upside down pyramid,
is HIMEM.SYS, EMM386.SYS, IFSHELP.SYS, MODE.COM, PRINT.COM. These are where
MS and Compaq started trying to "add value" while preserving "IBM
compatibility". Of these, IFSHELP.SYS is now the only important one.

IFSHELP.SYS is where MS was able to break OS/2.