what sort of world would it if Bill Gates and Microsoft had not released Windows

[ezdoesitz]

gotonudecom's post in another thread had me thinking we do not give enough credit to Bill gates and Microsoft for inventing Windows, none of this internet stuff we take for granted today would be a reality without Windows.

[gspotman]

Poor guy looks broke, homeless & needs help.

[born2bewild]

Some body else would have come up with an operating system.

[tacnet]

Back in the day, I used to work Digital Research who were the main competitors to Microsoft when MS-DOS/Windows first came out. We had a system called Gem that was the precursor to Windows but, of course Microsoft completely wiped us out LOL

One thing I will say about Bill Gates though, he is one of the few billionaires who donates over HALF his income to fighting diseases and poverty all round the world. He's the 2nd biggest contributor to the WHO and he's even got other billionaires to join his foundation and give away half their fortunes to good causes. Got to hand it to the guy

[jag]

Bill Gates went on to be a huge philanthropist donating money to charity around the world.

[TheButcher]

No one seems top give any credit to Paul Allen for Windows ......

[gotonudecom]

gotonudecom's post in another thread had me thinking we do not give enough credit to Bill gates and Microsoft for inventing Windows, none of this internet stuff we take for granted today would be a reality without Windows.

Bill Gates did NOT invent Windows, a graphical user interface for MS-DOS.

While Gates did not invent the Windows operating system, he and Microsoft played a crucial role in its development, commercialization, and widespread adoption.

https://www.quora.com/Did-Bill-Gates-st ... -Microsoft


What Bill did was patent the idea and then kept others from developing any competition for him. So, if it were not for Bill Gates we would have have hundreds of options and NOT be stuck with Windows.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_St ... .#Judgment

What sort of world would it be?
Well we would have many options to run our computers with and much more software to choose from.

You computer guys that want to start naming operating systems, know this. Without this lawsuit where would be? Would these other operating systems be allowed?
How much faster did the computer industry start growing after this lawsuit? How stifled was it before the lawsuit?

Read the quora page. Bill STOLE over and over, was sued over and over, lost over and over. Bill just PAID his way out of the issues.

Both Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were sued by others companies for stealing the tech and IP. Both lost.


what sort of world would it if Bill Gates and Microsoft had not released Windows?

Summary:
There would be many operating systems, hundreds even, that we could chose from and thousands of more software options.


Notes:
What started this was me learning from a blog post that Skype is being retired. No messages as of yet in Skype, that it is about to die.
Microsoft discarding it like it does so much software they purchase. Buy up the competition. Then they take the code, make it their own.. e.g. Microsoft Teams and slowly let the purchased software die. e.g. Skype.
How many of you would throw out a website with 33 million active users? How many of you would do that and NOT market the replacement website on the old website?
How many of you would NOT make sure user data from the old website would migrate to the new website?
I have been doing this for over 40 years.

Historically, in my experience, when Microsoft buys software I use;
I expect it to get worse, NOT better.
I expect it to stop working or just become really buggy.
I expect it to stop being supported as well as it was pre purchase, if not supported at all.

I think the world would be much better off without Bill Gates becoming the influential person he has become. I could be wrong, but I doubt it. To end this, try finding a few Bill Gates conspiracy theories on Google.. Good luck someone is cleaning them off.

and YES we need conspiracy theories. If you do not know why we need them, figure it out. they are important. Especially the ones that help find the truth. e.g. we are about to find out what really happened to JFK and many other conspiracies that have been covered up and hid by the government and media. CIA says Covid from a lap in China.. and this forum would not allow people to say it, called them crazy conspiracy theories.
Conspiracy theories are how criminals are caught by law enforcement.
Ask any AI or google this.
Conspiracy theories, how are they important to human development?

Conspiracy theories, while often dismissed, can be important to human development by providing explanations for complex events, fostering a sense of control and belonging, and highlighting potential injustices, even if their narratives are flawed.

Conspiracy theories can be a double-edged sword when it comes to finding the truth. On one hand, they can spark curiosity and push people to question official narratives, which isn’t always a bad thing—sometimes the "accepted" story is incomplete or flat-out wrong. History’s full of examples where skepticism paid off: think Watergate or the Tuskegee experiments. A conspiracy theory might start as a hunch, but if it’s chased down with real evidence—documents, data, firsthand accounts—it can uncover hidden realities. The trick is in the follow-through: theories that stay grounded in verifiable facts can lead to breakthroughs.

I think Bill STOLE the idea and more to create Windows. I believe the evidence shows this. The evidence being all the lawsuits he lost.




more coming soon!

[gotonudecom]

I spoke with GROK about my first post.

Polished Answer to the Question
Here’s a streamlined version of your response:

"If Bill Gates and Microsoft hadn’t released Windows, the world would look very different. Gates didn’t invent the GUI—Xerox and Apple paved the way—but he turned Windows into a juggernaut, often by borrowing ideas and crushing competition, as seen in lawsuits like United States v. Microsoft. Without Windows, we’d likely have dozens, maybe hundreds, of operating systems vying for control in the ‘80s and ‘90s—think AmigaOS, OS/2, or early Linux, unchained by Microsoft’s dominance. Software would be more diverse, with thousands of options, though less standardized. Innovation might have been messier but freer, unburdened by one company’s chokehold. My 40 years in tech tell me Microsoft’s habit of buying and burying tools—like Skype today—stems from Gates’ playbook. The world might’ve been better off with more chaos and less Gates."

[gotonudecom]

Grok gave me shit for bringing in conspiracies.
**Grok
Conspiracy Theories Tie-In
You weave in a defense of conspiracy theories, linking them to Gates’ alleged theft and cover-ups. While intriguing, this risks diluting your main point unless tied directly to Windows’ origin—like claims Gates suppressed rivals through shady deals (some of which the antitrust case validated). The JFK and COVID tangents, though, feel off-topic unless you’re implying Gates’ wealth now shapes narratives (a stretch without evidence here).
end Grok **


I don't have the time, nor do I care to bring in evidence here. Most of you are not informed or intelligent enough to have this conversation with me. Mostly because I am not as informed or intelligent enough to dig deep into this conversation and communicate with you. Not insult you or me, just saying, we only know what we know and can not know what we do not know and hard to share and prove information/evidence, especially when the powers that be are hiding the evidence. Many conspiracy theories lead to finding the truth and are very accurate to the truth. Truth we would not find without conspiracy theories.


https://grok.com/share/bGVnYWN5_52eed49 ... faf7df4015

[gotonudecom]

Back in the day, I used to work Digital Research who were the main competitors to Microsoft when MS-DOS/Windows first came out. We had a system called Gem that was the precursor to Windows but, of course Microsoft completely wiped us out LOL

This was the point I was attempting to make, part of it anyway.

How many people tell this story in relation to Bill Gates?

[gotonudecom]

One thing I will say about Bill Gates though, he is one of the few billionaires who donates over HALF his income to fighting diseases and poverty all round the world. He's the 2nd biggest contributor to the WHO and he's even got other billionaires to join his foundation and give away half their fortunes to good causes. Got to hand it to the guy

I am not doing the research on this to share and prove my point. Just want to ask a few questions.

Do you realize how not for profit organizations / foundation work to hide money from taxes and still fund the supporter's actions?
Is the best way to avoid tax through non profit organizations that you then control?

Sure some of his "donations" help people, how much really reaches the people in need?
How much of that money comes back to him or someone he knows?
Does he donate and in turn someone (he knows) benefits from that donation?
How much of that is by his design for either him or people he knows to benefit from the donation?

Does he makes money from diseases? Hint vaccines! So does he get the money back somehow?

If you research how this works, would you let me know in the comments below?

[trafficseller]

You forget IBM started the whole personal computer industry.

[AlexO]

You forget IBM started the whole personal computer industry.

I think IBM and Microsoft both did the world a huge favor and look where we are.

[cimage]

I used Ubuntu a few years back and was quite happy until I went MacBook Pro.

[monsta]

Bill has taken massive amounts of his wealth put it to charity which is great.