The best thing for users would have been if all the manufacturers of personal computer hardware had got together years ago and decided on a standard OS. Every time a new device was introduced the driver needed in the standard OS would have to be included with the hardware. Software houses would write programs to run under the standard OS and wouldn’t have to worry about multiple versions. The source of the OS would be widely available and everyone could make suggestions for its enhancement. No modifications would have to be made to programs to handle I/O. If this had been done in the beginning, an immense amount of effort would have been saved and everyone would be better off. Anyone who thinks it isn’t too late to do something along these lines has my enthusiastic support.
-- Bill Gates, Personal Computing magazine, May/June 1977
