Why do Microsoft and Google dominate their market?

Answer 1

Microsoft's success is largely contributed to their ability to market their products in an effective manner, as well as the many contractual agreements that they have with various manufacturers that reduce the cost to the manufacturer (and ultimately the consumer) in exchange for loyalty from the manufacturer. This means that Microsoft locks in vendors so they cannot sell computers running other operating systems in exchange for offering volume discounts for their operating system and/or software. They also hold a large number of patents that allow them a competitive market advantage, and have one of the largest groups of developers of any company worldwide, so they can have many more programs written in a far shorter time than a smaller company.

Answer 2

Microsoft don't actually dominate the network software market, but they do dominate the desktop software market.

Microsoft does dominate the desktop software market as their primary product line (Microsoft Windows), is designed to be compatible with as many different computer hardware and software created by other companies. This means most things just work with Microsoft.

The other main competitors are Apple and the different types of Linux software. Apple software is designed for close integration of computer hardware and software but this means it is not compatible with many other computer hardware and software like Microsoft software does. Linux is also designed to be compatible with many different computer hardware and software but it isn't as mature as Microsoft Windows.

Answer 3

They were pioneers in their respective industries. The early bird gets the worm, so to speak.