windows早期的对手门

微软是在1985年11月20日发布的Windows 1.0。25年过去了，很难想象没有Windows的时代会是什么样子，也没人能想到，微软能在这段时间流行起来。

The company had announced the software in November of 1983,before most PC users had ever seen a graphical user interface or touched theinput device known as a mouse. But by the time Windows finally shipped twoyears later, after a series of embarrassing delays, it had seemingly blownwhatever first-mover advantage it might have had. At least four other major DOSadd-ons that let users run multiple programs in “windows” had already arrived.

微软在1983年11月发布了这款软件，那个时候电脑用户还不知图形用户界面和鼠标为何物。经历了数次令人尴尬的推迟，Windows于两年之后最终上市，并且似乎拥有比先前版本更多的优势。至少，其余四个主要的DOS系统附加程序能够让用户在Windows里实现多任务操作。

In a pattern that Microsoft would repeat with laterproducts, though, it managed to make being late to the party work in itsadvantage. For one thing, Windows’ super-premature announcement left those fourearlier packages competing with it even though it didn’t actually exist yet;many people sensibly postponed buying any “windowing” environment until it wasclear how things would pan out.

虽然微软可能在产品上没什么创新，但是他们将推迟发布视作其一项优势。首先，过早的发布Windows会让前四款软件与其陷入竞争中，即使Windows事实上还不存在；许多用户推迟购买任何打着“视窗”旗号的操作系统，直到事情明朗。

For another, most of the developers of the earliest Windowsrivals shot themselves in the foot, usually more than once: They releasedproducts that required cutting-edge machines which few people owned, or gotensnared in lawsuits, or failed to get third-party developers on board. Just asseveral of them were running out of steam, Windows arrived on the scene. Andeven though it didn’t gain traction for nearly another half a decade, that wasokay; nothing else became a hit in the interim.

其次，Windows早期的对手们搬起石头砸了自己的脚：他们中有的发布的产品需要极少数人才拥有的前沿机器，有的官司缠身，有的没有寻找到第三方研发者合作研发。正当他们都被市场主流排除在外时，Windows应运而生。尽管Windows在此后的五年内没能迅速普及，但这无关紧要，因为其他对手也没能在这段时间内一家独大。

“Our approach is that there is only going to be onewinner,” InfoWorld quoted Microsoft marketing honcho Steve “Bulmer” as sayingin November of 1983, shortly after Windows was announced. The publication gothis name wrong, but he couldn’t have been more right about the market.

“我们的策略是，这里将只有一个胜者，”《信息世界》杂志援引过微软总裁史蒂夫·鲍尔默在1983年11月说过的话，那时微软刚刚发布不久。杂志在出版时甚至还把他的名字搞错了，但是他对市场的判断倒是极其准确。

For the purposes of this roundup of Windows rivals, Iconsidered only environments which were designed to run on IBM-compatible PCs,and which (like pre-1995 versions of Windows) ran on top of DOS rather thanreplaced it. (That’s why the Mac OS and OS/2, for instance, aren’t here.) Ialso cover only products released in 1990 or before; once Windows 3.0 wasreleased, Microsoft’s package became a juggernaut and attempts to compete withit largely ended.

我下面对于Windows对手的叙述只包括了为IBM兼容机设计的操作系统，像1995版的Windows那样还基于DOS系统的。（这便是为什么Mac OS和OS/2没有在此之列）同样我也只涉及了1990年及其以前发布的产品，因为Windows 3.0发布以后，微软俨然已经成为了市场的主宰者。

That still leaves half-a-dozen significant Windows rivals.They may have failed to compete with Microsoft, but they were all

interesting

failures.And on Windows’ 25th anniversary, they deserve to be remembered.

以下是当时Windows的六个主要对手，虽然他们在与微软的竞争中失败了，但是他们的失败显得很有趣。在Windows发布25周年之际，他们同样也值得铭记。

Visi On

Publisher:

VisiCorp

发布者：VisiCorp

Debuted:

December 1983, a year and eleven months beforeWindows

时间：1983年12月 比Windows早1年零11个月

Whyit was better than Windows, or at least different:

If pure prescience and ambition could ensure a product’s success, VisiOn would have been a blockbuster. The follow-up to VisiCalc–the firstspreadsheet and the young industry’s biggest hit to date–Visi On was the firstfull-blown windowing environment for PCs. It had a mouse-driven (althoughtext-based rather than graphical) interface. And VisiCorp supplied a full suiteof integrated apps–required, since it didn’t run DOS apps–that included Visi OnWord, Visi On Calc, and Visi On Graph. People who saw early demos werereportedly so blown away that some of them thought it was running on anartfully-concealed minicomputer rather than a PC.

优势和不同之处：如果单纯的市场前瞻性和野心能够确保产品的成功的话，那么Visi On早就统治市场了。Visi On是当时最为成熟的视窗操作系统，而其后的VisiCalc更是当时第一款电子数据表。它拥有鼠标驱动式界面，尽管是基于文本而非图像。由于不能运行DOS程序，VisiCorp公司为该系统打造了相关软件，包括Visi On Word, Visi On Calc和 Visi On Graph。据说看过样机演示的人瞬间就被征服，还以为是在操作一台精心设计的迷你电脑。

Whatthe critics said:

“In summary, the VisiOnsystem is a milestone in personal computing software. Like many othermilestones, it both points the way towards the future and falls far short ofit.”–Thomas Bonoma, Softalk

评论员观点：“总的来说，VisiOn系统是个人电脑软件的一个里程碑。像其他许多里程碑一样，它为今后的发展指明了方向，同时也迅速地被淘汰。”——托马斯·博诺玛

Thepublisher called it: “

a ‘boss’ who instructsthe computer on how to deal with the specific applications you want to workwith…Since all these applications work for the same boss, they all work thesame way. Learn to use one, and you’ve essentially learned to use them all.”

发布者观点：一个能对电脑发号施令，告诉他怎么运用某个你需要的软件的“老板”，因为这些软件都为一个“老板”工作，所以它们工作的方式都一样，用户学会了一个软件的用法，就等于学会了所有软件的用法。

Whathappened:

What

didn

‘t happen? VisiCorp thought itwould be able to get Visi On running on floppy-based PCs, but by the time itshipped it required 2.2MB of hard-disk space, in an era when a PC with twofloppy drives was considered luxurious. Buying all the software and the mousecost a stiff $1765. And at the same time the company was trying to get Visi Onoff the ground, it was beset with legal and financial woes–VisiCalc creatorSoftware Arts was suing it, and Lotus 1-2-3was rendering VisiCalc obsolete. Reviews of Visi On were mixed at best:InfoWorld was respectful, but pointed out that the spreadsheet was harder touse than VisiCalc and forty times slower at recalculating a large spreadsheet.In August of 1984, VisiCorp sold Visi On development rights to Control Data;three months later, it sold itself to a company called Paladin; by early 1986,weeks after Windows was released, Visi On was already effectively dead.

失败原因：VisiCorp公司原本以为他们能让Visi On系统在软盘驱动的电脑上使用，但是当系统最终上市时，它却需要2.2M的硬盘空间，而在那个时代，电脑有两个软盘驱动都被视作是奢侈。买下全套的软件和鼠标需要花费1765美元。而当该公司准备推广Visi On系统时，公司正处在官司缠身的状态，VisiCalc的创造者Software Arts正在起诉该公司，Lotus1-2-3则让VisiCalc成为了过时产品。综合来说Visi On还是最好的，《信息世界》对这款产品充满敬意。但是Visi On比VisiCalc难用的多，而且它的计算速度比后者要慢了40倍。1984年8月，VisiCorp公司将Visi On的研发权卖给了 Control Data公司，该公司后来被一家叫做Paladin的公司收购，到1986年初，就在Windows发布后数周，Visi On系统几乎绝迹。

TopView

Publisher:

IBM

发布者：IBM

Debuted:

February 1985, ten months before Windows 1.0

发布时间：1985年2月 比Windows1.0早了10个月

Whyit was better than Windows, or at least different:

TopView began as an IBM research product around 1980–before the IBMPC had reached the market. It was announced in August of 1984 at the same timeas IBM’s powerful PC AT, and was intended to leverage that machine’s potenttechnical capabilities. (It required 512KB of RAM and two floppy drives, fairlyimposing specs at the time.) Rather than requiring all-new graphicalapplications, TopView was designed to run DOS programs, but third-partydevelopers could also write “TopView-aware” apps that took advantage of itsadvanced capabilities. Pundits wondered whether it was designed to eventually supplantDOS, making it harder for third-party PC manufacturers to compete with IBM.

优势和不同之处：1980年左右，在IBM的个人电脑还未上市之前，TopView就是公司的一款研发中的产品。它和IBM的个人电脑AT同时发布，并有望提升该款电脑的强大技术能力。（按当时的配置要求，TopView系统需要513KB的内存和两个软盘驱动）TopView没有采用当时处于前沿的图像系统，而是基于DOS系统设计，但是第三方研发者仍然可以根据其优势设计适合TopView系统的软件。专家曾怀疑该款操作系统其实是为了最终取代DOS系统而做的过渡，让第三方PC厂商难以和IBM竞争。

Whatthe critics said:

“I was impressed by theconcept and IBM’s demonstrations, but, after using the recently releasedproduct, I’m less enthusiastic.”–Larry Magid, Los Angeles Times

评论员观点：“我对这款产品和IBM的演示印象深刻，但是，当我真正亲自体验了一把之后，就没以前那么感兴趣了。”——拉里·马吉德 《洛杉矶时报》

Thepublisher called it:

“[a] new kind of softwareprogram that lets you run and ‘window’ several other programs at once.”

发布者观点：一款能够让你在视窗条件下同时运行几个程序的软件。

Whathappened:

Like Windows, TopView was announcedand hyped well before it was ready. Two months after it finally hit the market,InfoWorld’s John C. Dvorak was already comparing it to the PC Jr.; fewdevelopers bothered to write TopView-aware software, configuring stock DOS appsto run with the package was notoriously tricky, and IBM reportedly sold only afew hundred copies a month. In August of 1985, Big Blue signed a deal withMicrosoft to develop operating systems together, and the tech press immediatelybegan speculating that the agreement marked the end of the road for TopView.(The IBM-Microsoft arrangement eventually led to the creation of OS/2, whichshipped in December of 1987.) TopView wasn’t officially discontinued untilmid-1990, but by that point just about everyone who found the idea intriguinghad switched to Quarterdeck’s DESQview.

失败原因：像

Windows

一样，

TopView

还未上市就

失败原因：像Windows一样，TopView还未上市就被被大肆宣扬，称其为优秀产品。然而当它上市之后两个月，《信息世界》的约翰·C·德沃夏克就将其比作PC Jr.（相较于前文所说的Powerful PC AT）；很少有研发者乐意费心去研发TopView系统的软件，成形的DOS软件在该系统上很难运行。据报道，IBM在一个月内仅售出了几百份TopView。1985年8月，IBM与微软签订协议，共同研发操作系统，媒体猜测该协议事实上标志着TopView系统的终结。（IBM与微软的合作最终催生了于1987年12月发布的OS/2系统）直到上世纪90年度中期，TopView的研发才被正式叫停，不过这已经不重要了，因为当时所有人都把兴趣转向了Quarterdeck公司的DESQview系统。 GEM

Publisher:

Digital Research

发布者：Digital Research

Debuted:

February 1985, ten months before Windows 1.0

发布时间：1985年2月 比Windows1.0早十个月

Whyit was better than Windows, or at least different:

By the mid-1980s, Digital Research was famous mostly as the companywhose CP/M operating system was displaced in the market by Microsoft’s CP/Mknockoff MS-DOS. But it got a chance to start fresh with GEM (GraphicalEnvironment Manager). The package beat Windows to the market and looked farmore like Apple’s groundbreaking Macintosh. The company also released an arrayof productivity apps for its environment, such as GEM WordChart; one verypopular third-party app, Ventura Publisher, ran on top of a run-time edition ofGEM. A modified version of GEM also served as the interface for Atari’s ST lineof computers.

优势和不同之处：上世纪80年代中期，Digital Research公司的CP/M操作系统被微软的CP/M knockoff MS-DOS所取代。但是该公司研发出了GEM（图形环境管理器），该系统在市场上一度击败了Windows，并且威胁到了苹果公司主打产品Macintosh的地位。该公司同样为GEM打造了一系列软件，比如GEM WordChart，还有一款非常受欢迎的第三方软件VenturaPublisher。GEM系统的改进版甚至是Atari公司ST系列电脑的预装系统。

Whatthe critics said:

“…offers IBM PC users aMacintosh interface.”–Keith Thompson, InfoWorld

评论员观点：“。。。。这就好像让IBM的电脑装饰Macintosh系统。”——凯斯·汤普森 《信息世界》

Thepublisher called it:

“…not just software. It’sa movement.”

发布者观点：“不止是一款软件，更是一场变革。”

Whathappened:

GEM ran into trouble almostimmediately; shortly after its release, Apple sued over its Mac-like look,forcing Digital Research to release a new, less elegant edition. It nevermanaged to give Windows serious competition, but it did muddle along into the1990s, along with Digital Research’s MS-DOS workalike DR-DOS. Novell, which boughtDigital Research in 1991, thought DR-DOS had potential but didn’t do much ofanything with GEM. Still, the software was open-sourced in 1999 and continuesto exist, at least sort of, as FreeGEM and OpenGEM.

失败原因：GEM在发布不久久遇到了麻烦，苹果公司起诉其抄袭Macintosh的外观设计，这使得Digital Research不得不研发了一款更粗糙的版本。该系统从未真正给与Windows重创，但是它的确和Digital Research的DR-DOS一起撑到了90年代。Novell公司在1991年收购了Digital Research，当时他们认为DR-DOS比较有潜力，于是没有对GEM系统做任何改善。1999年，该系统成为了一款开源软件，它仍然存在，当然至少从某种意义上说，以开源软件的方式存在。

DESQview

Publisher:Quarterdeck

发布者：Quarterdeck

Debuted:

July 1985, five months before Windows 1.0

发布时间：1985年7月 比Windows1.0早了五个月

W

hyit was better than Windows, or at least different:

DESQview was based on DESQ, an earlier Quarterdeck product, and wasinitially marketed as a superior alternative to IBM’s TopView. Resolutelytext-based and keyboard-oriented, it allowed for efficient multitasking of DOSapps and came with QEMM, a famously well-done memory manager that was alsoavailable separately. (This was back when PC users had to obsess over the 640KBmemory limit and devote energy to figuring out how to override it.) People wholiked DESQview

really

liked it; well into the 1990s, there were folks who swore off Windows and sawit as a way to avoid the whole graphical user interface revolution.

优势和不同之处：DESQview系统是在Quarterdeck公司早期产品DESQ系统的层面上研发的，随即被市场认为是比IBM的TopView更优越的产品。基于文本，键盘输入，它能够实现DOS软件的多任务操作，并且附带QEMM，一款制作精良的内存管理器软件。（当时的电脑用户时常担心电脑640KB的内存限制，并为如何打破这个限制而绞尽脑汁）。喜欢DESQview的人是真正的喜欢，上世纪90年代还有人发誓抵制Windows，并认为这是避免图像用户界面变革的方式。

Whatthe critics said:

“…a powerful, useful, cleverwindowing system.” Marc Stern, InfoWorld

评论员观点：“一款功能强大，实用性高的视窗系统”马克·斯特恩 《信息世界》

Thepublisher called it:

“…the recognized pioneerin DOS multitasking.”

发布者观点：“DOS多任务操作的先驱”

Whathappened:

DESQview sold only a tiny fractionas many copies as Windows did, but it was one of the few packages here thatqualified, for a while, as a success. At some point, though, sticking with DOSapps and running them in DESQview went from a perfectly understandable decisionto a weird affectation. (In 1990, Quarterdeck had released DESQview/X, anambitious, all-new environment that let users use Unix-based X Window apps aswell DOS and Windows apps; it was too much too late, and never threatenedWindows.) By the time Quarterdeck sold out to Symantec in 1998, the DESQviewera such as it was had ended. And Quarterdeck, having failed to beat Windows,had morphed into a developer of utilities for it.

失败原因：DESQview系统只售出了一小部分，但它是少有几个成功的操作系统之一，虽然后来坚持与DOS软件兼容从可以理解的决定变成了奇怪的偏好。（1990年，Quarterdeck公司发布了DESQview/X，一款全新并且野心十足的操作系统，它能让用户同时使用基于Unix的X Window软件，DOS软件和Windows软件，但是一切都太晚了，这款系统软件从未威胁到Windows的地位）。随着Quarterdeck公司在1998年将其出售给Symantec公司，DESQview操作系统的时代也宣告结束。而在竞争中失利的Quarterdeck公司也成为了Symantec旗下的研发公司。

DeskMate

Publisher:

Tandy (that’s Radio Shack to you and me)

发布者：Tandy

Debuted:

1986

发布时间：1986年

Whyit was better than Windows, or at least different:

In the 1980s, many home PCs were pretty darn rudimentary, even bythen-current standards. And a lot of them were sold by Radio Shack, then a majormanufacturer of cheap IBM PC clones. At a time when many PC users deemedWindows to be a resource hog they didn’t need, the company put its DeskMatetext-based windowing environment on machines such as the Tandy 1000, where itwas sometimes stored in ROM. DeskMate never got very pretty, but it did becomethe center of its own little parallel universe, with multiple upgrades (itreached version 3) and special versions of such popular programs as Lotus 1-2-3and Quicken. It was also eventually sold in shrinkwrapped form for non-TandyPCs, and there was an edition for Radio Shack’s TRS-80 Color Computer.

优势和不同之处：在上个世纪80年代，即使是按当时的标准来说，许多家庭的电脑仍然显得非常的原始。许多电脑都是Radio Shack在出售，该公司是IBM电脑仿制品的主要生产商。当时许多电脑用户认为他们不需要Windows这样操作系统，该公司乘机研发了DeskMate这一基于文本的视窗操作系统，并将其安装在他们的产品Tandy 1000上。DeskMate系统从未获得广泛的市场，但它一直是Radio Shack公司产品的核心，还曾经有3个升级版本和一个为流行软件Lotus 1-2-3 和Quicken设计的特别版本。最终在其他电脑上也有少量的销售，上图是Radio Shack公司的TRS-80电脑。

Whatthe critics said:

“For many users, especiallythose with little computer experience or less powerful hardware (it requiresjust an 8088 and a single floppy disk) Deskmate has inexpensive and has a lotto offer.” Michael J. Miller, InfoWorld

评论员观点：“对许多用户，尤其是那些没有多少电脑知识，电脑配置也不高的用户来说，Deskmate系统比较经济适用，因为它只需要一个8088处理器和一个软盘驱动。”——迈克尔·J·米勒 《信息世界》

Thepublisher called it:

“The Friendly Face in thePC Crowd(tm)”

发布者观点：“众多电脑中最为亲切的界面系统。”

Whathappened:

After Windows 3.0 shipped in 1990,DOS-only PCs went into a gradual but inexorable death spiral; the arrival ofWindows 1995 finished them off. At the same time, Radio Shack gradually got outof the computer business. Its 1994 catalog was the last to mention DeskMate,and the 1995 one was the last to include computers at all. The company sold itsPC business to AST, leaving DeskMate as an orphan.

失败原因：自从Windows3.0于1990年发布之后，只有DOS系统的电脑逐渐进入了淘汰阶段，Windows 1995宣告了DOS时代的彻底结束。同时，Radio Shack公司也淡出了电脑行业。1994年生产的电脑是最后一批带有DeskMate系统的电脑，1995年公司生产了最后一批电脑。Radio Shack将其电脑业务卖个了AST公司，并且彻底遗弃了DeskMate系统。

PC/GEOS

Publisher:

Berkeley Softworks (later GeoWorks)

发布者：Berkeley Softworks（后来的GeoWorks）

Debuted:

1990, the same year as Windows 3.0

发布时间：1990年 和Windows3.0在同一年

Whyit was better than Windows, or at least different:

GEOS (later known as GeoWorks Ensemble) was a graphical environmentthat looked and behaved much like Windows, with an interface based on Motif, awidely-used environment from the Unix world. But it was much meaner and leanerthan anything from Redmond it ran just fine on supposedly obsolete hardwaresuch as an IBM PC XT. GEOS tended to get excellent reviews. And even though itarrived at the same time that Windows 3.0 was selling like gangbusters, plentyof folks thought that the market would have room for both environments.

优势和不同之处：GEOS（后来被称作GeoWorks Ensemble）是和Windows相似的图像界面，它的界面以Motif为基础，从Unix衍生而来。但是它只能在过时的机器比如IBM的PC XT上使用。尽管都在同一时段发布，但是Windows3.0获得了巨大的成功，虽然许多人认为这两款产品都应该拥有自己的市场。

Whatthe critics said:

“If you can only swing a286, GeoWorks is faster and slicker than trying to run Windows.” SebastianRupley, InfoWorld

评论员观点：“如果你只有一台286，那么运行GeoWorks系统会比Windows要快速顺畅的多。——塞巴斯蒂安·鲁普雷 《信息世界》

Thepublisher called it:

“…the fastest rampinggraphical environment ever.”

发布者观点：“史上运转最快的图像界面系统。”

Whathappened:

Windows 3.0 and beyond crushed GEOSmuch like Godzilla crushed Bambi. But for a failed piece of software, GEOS hashad a lively existence. It served as the platform for AOL’s DOS version thewhole thing fit on one floppy and a pen-based version powered HP’s 1995 OmniGopalmtop; it was also bundled with Sony and NEC CD-ROM drives. Ownership of thesoftware changed hands several times, and it’s still around as BreadboxEnsemble. Somewhere out there, people are still using it which is more than youcan say about DeskMate or Visi On.

失败原因：Windows3.0击败GEOS就像怪兽哥斯拉撕碎小鹿班比一样。但是作为一款失败的软件，GEOS有其存在的价值。GEOS是美国在线服务公司DOS版本软件的平台，该软件只需一个软盘驱动和手写输入器，而且是1995年惠普触屏电脑OmniGo的平台；同时和索尼及NEC公司都有合作。这款软件的所有权曾几度易手，现今所有权在Breadbox Ensemble公司手中。现在仍然有人使用GEOS系统，当然，要比使用Deskmate或Visi On这样系统的人多的多。