That was only for a few years, basically the gap years where they had no Steve and no real direction for the company. And with good reason, Apple looked pretty seriously hosed for a while there, heck they even needed money from MS. But the years pre-Win95 and the years since OSX it’s been all about how Macs are gonna win (then it was OS2 for a bit, then Linux, then the press seemed to finally give up on predicting MS’s imminent demise, then OSX came out), and yet there’s really no solid indication of Macs really being in a position to win. Heck just look at this thread, most of the discussion is about how well Macs can run Windows, how does MS lose if most Mac machines install Windows even if it is just in VMs?
“yet there’s really no solid indication of Macs really being in a position to win.”
Define win! I have no intention of driving the same kind of vehicle that most of the people around here drive. I drink Old Overholt. I like Shrub better than Junior!
Winning to me is a sustainable company delivering products I like. The hell with the majority.
Um, no.
It was “Apple is doomed” from 88-01. That was the standard story - 13 years of gloom from the press.
Not a “few years”.
No, that is not the case. Apple certainly did not "need" an infusion of cash from Microsoft. That is the rumor that Microsoft started spreading several years after the event perhaps to save face.
Apple had almost 1.5 billion dollars in cash in the bank when Microsoft bought $150,000,000 in preferred stock as part of a lawsuit settlement that essentially Apple won. MS was required to license certain software patents from Apple for a minimum five years, purchase the preferred stock in lieu of a cash payment, and continue producing and developing MS Office for Mac for another 5 years for undisclosed yearly payments while Apple was allowed to license a few software patents from MS in perpetuity at no cost.
For Apple's part of the settlement agreement, they agreed to make Internet Explorer the default browser on their computers (but they could continue bundling Netscape Communicator in every new Mac as well), issue some paper in exchange for the $150,000,000 (which cost them nothing), and bundle trial versions of MS Office for Mac with every new Mac for a period of five years.
Microsoft sold the preferred stock on the open market about three years later for a substantial profit. They retain none of it today.
Most Macs users don't install Windows... but it is available if they need to.