I was thinking just yesterday about how much piracy has helped Windows in becoming the dominant OS on PC's. I think a very small percentage of the population would've bought Windows in poor countries, including big ones like China and India, but also many other smaller ones. The rise of Windows happened in parallel with the rise of PC.
So if using Windows without paying in these countries would not have been an option, there would have been a big push for Linux on PC's in these countries 15 years ago. And the Linux from 10-15 years ago would've looked a lot better than it did, because the PC manufacturers themselves would've invested billions of dollars in making it better for those markets, and it wouldn't have remained just a "hobby" OS that they would use in those markets, just like they are doing now with Android.
But since there was an option to pirate Windows, the OEM's just took the easy way out, and didn't bother "fight" the trend of everyone wanting to use Windows on those PC's, and having to support it on them.
So if using Windows without paying in these countries would not have been an option, there would have been a big push for Linux on PC's in these countries 15 years ago. And the Linux from 10-15 years ago would've looked a lot better than it did, because the PC manufacturers themselves would've invested billions of dollars in making it better for those markets, and it wouldn't have remained just a "hobby" OS that they would use in those markets, just like they are doing now with Android.
But since there was an option to pirate Windows, the OEM's just took the easy way out, and didn't bother "fight" the trend of everyone wanting to use Windows on those PC's, and having to support it on them.