there are alot of reason why VHS beat Betamax for the Video Tape market; but the same applies to why it's Philip DvD format we use and not Panasonics...
Cost & Availability, although Betamax had higher quality pictures; they were prone to being more easily wiped, could not retape as many times at the same quality, couldn't hold the same length of tape ... infact aside from the Quality of Picture, Betamax was just plain inferior from an End Users point of veiw.
This is the same when you look at Windows vs Linux to an extent.
Linuxes main problem is there is ZERO standardization. Although Kernels are compatible, that is all they are; they're not fully comptible just compatible.
Although Linux also appears to have a speed boost over every Windows except Millennium Edition, this speed is at the cost of how your Ram is operated; which for the End User doesn't matter, but for a programmer is the biggest pain in the ass EVER!
There is no automatic memory declarations, you can't simply make and take memory space; you need to prime, setup, and use the space. And if you don't want the program to constantly be in the memory delete it on exit of the program.
Windows will retain memory residence until it is either a) at it's limit or b) doing a pagefile check, at which point it puts the unused areas into pagefile until the nect check when it'll delete the memory space.
The prime fact of the matter is Windows is more stable, has more features, has a very simply GUI, has everything you'll need builtin, plus fully support and regular updates.
infact the biggest let down of Linux is it's UI... as you required to know the Operating System pretty well before you can really use it properly. It adds valuable time to tasks suchas even copying data from one area of the system to another.
Linux is a student programmers Operating System; it was created in a University, and it should stay in the university. It really isn't designed for general user consumption.
Windows may have become popular simply because of DOS, however it was the first x86/Alpha Operating System to incorporate a GUI.
It has and always will cater to the needs of Business's and Home users alike... and at the end of the day, it is just less hassle.
This is how Microsoft Windows is now used to much, because rather than sitting around hoping that someone will like the OS; they've actually catered it so people will find it easy to use, understand and just forget about all the little things that Linux won't let you.
Windows only real competition is Irix based Solaris and MacOSX.
Both of which are just as developed and actually just as expensive.
BeOS could've been a good contender if they're been able to market it properly.
Detonating a nuclear device within the city limits results in a $500 fine!
900mhz|256mb|FX5200Ti 52.16|Dx9|WXP-Pro