BASIC
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When Atari released the Atari VCS (later called the Atari 2600) in 1977, it was initially a one-sided platform. Atari made the system and all the games and controllers. The only participants in the market, and users of the platform, were the players. By the early 1980s, when Activision, Imagic, and other third-party companies had entered the market, there was another class of participant -- one that was not paying royalties to Atari for the privilege of making games for their console. | When Atari released the Atari VCS (later called the Atari 2600) in 1977, it was initially a one-sided platform. Atari made the system and all the games and controllers. The only participants in the market, and users of the platform, were the players. By the early 1980s, when Activision, Imagic, and other third-party companies had entered the market, there was another class of participant -- one that was not paying royalties to Atari for the privilege of making games for their console. | ||
| − | Microsoft's Windows is another example of a platform with at least two sides. On one side, computers need an operating system and desktop environment to function. This leads hardware manufacturers such as Dell to purchase licenses to Windows and to include the software with their systems. On the other side, computers are only valuable if there are applications written for them. Microsoft writes some of the applications for Windows, but third-party developers write many. The abundance of software has a network effect that is positive for Microsoft: it encourages users to stay with Windows. And, since Windows is preinstalled on many computers, companies want to write applications for it. | + | Microsoft's Windows is another example of a platform with at least two sides. On one side, computers need an operating system and desktop environment to function. This leads hardware manufacturers such as Dell to purchase licenses to Windows and to include the software with their systems. On the other side, computers are only valuable if there are applications written for them. Microsoft writes some of the applications for Windows, but third-party developers write many. The abundance of software has a network effect that is positive for Microsoft: it encourages users to stay with Windows. And, since Windows is pre-installed on many computers, companies want to write applications for it. |
Of course, Windows was not the first two-sided platform, nor even Microsoft's first. By retaining the rights to what IBM called PC-DOS, Microsoft had previously been able to license MS-DOS to other companies, much as they would later sell OEM copies of Windows to them. And before that, there are continuities with the company's first product line, Microsoft BASIC. BASIC was a programming language, not an operating system, but the presence of BASIC allowed programs to be written on a computer and sometimes sold. There were at least two sides to BASIC as a software platform: the computer companies, beginning with MITS, who wanted it on their machines; and the computer hobbyists who wanted to write (and in many cases sell) BASIC programs. At Gates and Allen's young company, the success of BASIC and the essential business plan used with that family of software products formed the basis of Microsoft's later success licensing MS-DOS and Windows. | Of course, Windows was not the first two-sided platform, nor even Microsoft's first. By retaining the rights to what IBM called PC-DOS, Microsoft had previously been able to license MS-DOS to other companies, much as they would later sell OEM copies of Windows to them. And before that, there are continuities with the company's first product line, Microsoft BASIC. BASIC was a programming language, not an operating system, but the presence of BASIC allowed programs to be written on a computer and sometimes sold. There were at least two sides to BASIC as a software platform: the computer companies, beginning with MITS, who wanted it on their machines; and the computer hobbyists who wanted to write (and in many cases sell) BASIC programs. At Gates and Allen's young company, the success of BASIC and the essential business plan used with that family of software products formed the basis of Microsoft's later success licensing MS-DOS and Windows. | ||
