It is easy to survey the realm of computing and see that Windows is dominant (at least on desktop computers, and on lots of laptops in offices). But Windows did not always have dominance; it had to fight its way to the top. Windows had to replace PC-DOS/MS-DOS, it had to fight off OS/2, and it had to beat a number of other (smaller) contenders.
Much has been written about the transition from PC-DOS to Windows and the competition between Windows and OS/2. There is one factor, I think, that has received little attention. This one factor, by itself, may not have made the decision, but it was a factor that favored Windows.
That factor was the laser printer. (Specifically the Hewlett-Packard LaserJet printer.)
Laser printers were desired. They were expensive, which dampened their acceptance, but people wanted them. They were quieter, they were faster, and they produced better quality output. They could provide different typefaces and they could print graphics. And people wanted quiet, fast, high-quality output, especially with graphics.
One could use a laser printer with programs in PC-DOS. It was not always easy, and it was not always possible. PC-DOS provided few services for devices; just enough to send data to a parallel port or a serial port. Applications that wanted to use sophisticated devices (such as laser printers) had to build their own drivers. (The same issue was present for video cards, too.) Thus, when purchasing software, the first question was "Will it support a laser printer?". Some software did, some did not, and some supported laser printers poorly.
Windows supported graphics, video cards, and laser printers from the start. Windows was built around graphics; the first release of Windows was a graphics program. Windows also handled device drivers, allowing a device to have a single driver for all applications. If a program ran in Windows, it could print on all of the printers supported by Windows. Windows was graphics.
In contrast, the first version of OS/2 worked only in text mode. OS/2 users had to wait for version 2.1 to have graphics. Microsoft and IBM (developing OS/2 jointly) focused on multitasking and memory and security.
The difference between Windows and OS/2 was that orientation. Windows was an operating system for a PC; that is, an operating system for a video display board that had a processor and memory and storage attached. OS/2 was an operating system for a minicomputer; very good at multitasking for a use that communicated through a character interface. Even though PCs at the time had video boards, OS/2 pretended that the user was sitting at a terminal.
But people wanted graphics. They wanted graphics because they could see the print-outs from laser printers. They were willing to pay lots of money for laser printers, to impress their co-workers and their bosses.
Windows had graphics. OS/2 did not.
I cannot help but think that laser printers helped Windows win over OS/2.
(I do recognize that other factors contributed to the success of Windows. Those factors include licensing arrangements, marketing, and compatibility with PC-DOS applications. I think laser printers are another -- unrecognized -- factor.)
Today, we casually accept that just about every device works with Windows, and that we can print from any application to any device (laser printer, ink-jet printer, and even PDF file), and that it all works. The computing world of 2020 is very different from the world of 1985.
But maybe we should be looking forward instead of backward. Windows won over OS/2 because it met the demand of the market. It provided graphics on screen and on printouts. It gave people what they wanted.
Today, in 2020, what do people want? And which companies are providing it?
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