全通翻譯/翻譯社

And Then There Was One: Is Microsoft Being Left in the Dust?

Microsoft Windows was not the first operating system to provide a graphical user interface. Although Bill Gates demonstrated a betaversion of Windows version 1.0 to IBM execs in 1983, it was two years before the OS hit shelves. Their lukewarm response was in stark contrast to the way they had embraced MS-DOS two years earlier. Part of IBM’s reluctancecame from the fact that they were working on their own OS.

By the time version 1.0 was released, two competing GUI systems were already on the market. They failed to attract interest, primarily because of a lack of support from third-party developers. For a while, it looked like Windows would go the same way. Despite major improvements in version 2.0, it wasn’t until the release of 3.0 in 1990 that the OS got the en masse developer support required for critical and commercial acceptance. With the release of Windows 95 — the company’s first OS not to require the installation of MS-DOS — Microsoft cornered the market. Since that time, there has been only one superpower in the desktop OS market. As of June 2013, Windows 7 accounted for 44.37 percent of the market, with the ever-popular Windows XP occupying a further 37.17 percent.

Despite this, Microsoft has had to take the rough with the smooth over the years, and there is widespread speculation that all is not well in the house that Gates built. Furthermore, there are signs that a paradigm shift is in the offing, as the face-offs with rivals shift to a different battleground.

科技龍頭寶座 微軟望塵莫及？

微軟視窗系統不是第一個提供圖形使用者介面的作業系統。雖然比爾‧蓋茲在一九八三年向 IBM 的高階主管展 示了視窗系統 1.0 版的測試版，但這套作業系統卻等待了兩年才上市。那些高階主管的冷淡反應與他們在兩年前熱 烈接納 MS-DOS 系統的表現形成強烈對比。IBM 部分不情願的態度來自於他們正在開發自家作業系統的這個事實。

等到 1.0 版推出時，市面上已 有兩套相互競爭的圖形使用者介面 系統。這兩套系統都未能吸引太多 興趣，主因是缺乏第三方開發商的 支援。有一陣子，視窗系統也看似 步上後塵。2.0 版雖大幅改善，卻 直到一九九○年 3.0 版的推出才讓 這套作業系統得到全體開發商的支 援，從而獲得評論與商業端的接 納。隨著 Windows 95 的推出—— 公司第一套不須安裝 MS-DOS 的 作業系統——微軟壟斷了市場。從 那時起，桌上型電腦作業系統市場 上就只有一個超級強權。截至二○ 一三年六月為止，Windows 7 的市 佔率達 44.37%，熱門程度歷久不 衰的 Windows XP 更進一步攻下 37.17%。

儘管如此，微軟這些年來卻是 好壞都得概括承受，且各界都臆測 蓋茲所創建的這家公司情況不太 妙。此外，隨著微軟與競爭對手的 對峙轉移到不同的戰場上，跡象也 顯示典範轉移即將來臨。

資料來源：biz互動英語報