>Successful product != well-designed product.

Anyone can say that about any product. That doesn't make it true. Windows is a successful product that satisfies a need that people and businesses have. You can't fake dollar bills.

>Microsoft got Windows where it is by having no sense of self-respect and willing to play the B2B race to the bottom. And it remains dominant thanks to decades' worth of legacy software that needs to continue running.

>So that's cheapness and momentum.

>If Windows was ever a beautiful product, it certainly isn't now. It would never become popular today in its current shape and principles.

I'd rather sell a hundred million copies than convince some randos on the internet that my software is "beautiful".