Windows is the de facto standard, and that's a bad thing

A simple phrase can conjure up interesting memories, and such is the case with the phrase "de facto standard".

From its 3.1 release, Windows has been the standard. It was a de facto standard -- it was not adopted by a standards body or codified in law -- but no one called it that -- they simple said "Windows".

The last product in tech that had the attribute "de facto standard" was the predecessor to PC-DOS: a small operating system known as CP/M. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, prior to the introduction of the IBM PC and PC-DOS, CP/M was the most popular operating system. It did not have the near-universal acceptance of Windows; operating systems like Radio Shack's TRS-DOS and Apple's DOS were major contenders, and there were a bunch of minor competitors. CP/M had a majority of the market but not an overwhelming majority, and people called CP/M "the de facto standard". *

The "de facto" label was, for CP/M, no guarantee of success. With the introduction of the IBM PC, CP/M was quickly replaced by PC-DOS. It became The Way Everyone Uses Computers. No one used the phrase "de facto standard". They simply called it "DOS", and there was no discussion or consideration of alternatives (except for a few eccentric Macintosh users.)

Later, PC-DOS was replaced by Windows. With release 3.1, Windows became The Way Everyone Uses Computers. No one used the term "de facto standard" for Windows, either. (The same group of eccentric Macintosh users were present, and folks mostly ignored them.)

This past year has seen alternate operating systems rise to challenge the dominance of Windows. Mac OSX has made inroads for desktops and laptops. Linux has taken some of the server market. For phones, iOS and Android far surpass Windows.


Now, people are calling Windows the de facto standard. I think this is a bad thing for Windows. It is an admission of competition, an acknowledgement of fallibility. The presence of the term means that people consider alternate operating systems a viable threat to Windows. The pervasive group-think has shifted from "Windows as only operating system" to "Windows is our operating system and we want to keep it that way". Windows is no longer The Way Everyone Uses Computers; now it is The Way We Use Computers.

Perhaps I am reading too much into the phrase "de facto standard". Perhaps the memory of IBM and Microsoft taking away our cherished microcomputer independence still stings. Perhaps nothing has changed in the mindset of programmers, consumers, and businesses.

Or perhaps people are ready to move to a new computing platform.


* The popularity of different operating systems in the pre-PC age is difficult to measure, and arguments can be made that specific operating systems were the most popular. Operating systems were sometimes sold separately and sometimes bundled with hardware, and the fans of Commodore C64 computers have a good case for their Microsoft BASIC as the most popular operating system. I have seen the term "de facto" applied only to CP/M and not to any competitors.