[soapbox] I know this is a contrarian opinion, but Bill Gates and Beelzebub are really not one and the same. Think back to what it was like running a computer 15 years ago. Do you really want to go back to C:> prompts and setting up separate print drivers for each piece of software you install? Microsoft is directly responsible for most of the changes made in the last couple of decades, and most of those changes have been for the better. [/soapbox]

Lets see here, 2001-15=1986. The Mac was around, with no need for what you speak of. Also, had Microsoft not done what they have, others would have. IBM with OS/2 for example. While Microsoft has helped the PC industry, by no means are they the only reason it's where it is today. Personally I feel they have actually harmed things by crushing competitiors instead of having to develop something new to compete. Take for example OS/2 Warp 4, released a bit after Windows 95. It has built in voice control and dictation. Built in standards like OpenDOC, Open32, OpenGL, and Java. Imagine if that OS hadn't ben slaughtered by MS where we would be today. Decent voice control, and standards that allow people to send work to others without worying about the format it's saved in. Had Microsoft not been able to crush OS/2 like they did, they would ahve been forced to compete and add similar features to Windows to stay alive.

(No, honestly, I'm not that bitter about the death of OS/2 when it was hitting it's prime)