There ' s always one <| sep |> Honestly , your argument about lockin would have made more sense in 1996 than 2016 . In 1996 Microsoft Windows commanded the majority of home and work PCs . Today Linux is everywhere on servers and in the cloud . For home users and even professionals , Mac usage has picked up considerably , and Linux is a far more viable desktop operating system today than in 1996 . Things are shifting more and more towards mobile friendliness smartphones , tablets , and thin computers like Google Chromebooks . More data is in the cloud more apps are Web apps . The biggest exception is computer games , so if you ' re a gamer , you may feel somewhat locked in to Windows even if macOS or Linux get the game months later . I think there are three big factors going for Microsoft Windows at this point 1 inertia , 2 affordability , and 3 innovation . For those who have been using PCs forever , they ' re probably most familiar with Windows , and it ' s easiest to stick with the latest iteration of a mostly familiar operating system . Major upgrades like Windows Vista , Windows 8 , or Windows 10 have offered opportunities for these users to jump ship to GNULinux , one of the BSDs , or macOS but many , especially less technical users , will go with what they know . The second is affordability . Microsoft Windows comes OEM preinstalled on a diverse range of computers , not only firstparty Microsoft Surfacebranded devices . In the short term , these can be much cheaper to buy than an equivalent Applebranded device . There has been some discussion about Macs being cheaper in the long run because of a better support story , but for users looking at sticker price , it may be cheaper to pick up some lowspec offbrand laptop from WalMart and be done with it . My third argument is innovation . The last several versions of Mac OS X and now macOS have been minor incremental changes from the end user ' s perspective mostly now tighter integration with iOS , iCloud , and Siri . The new 2016 MacBook Pro has been roundly criticized . It seems Apple may have lost its way after Steve Jobs death . The postSteve Ballmer Microsoft , though , is hungry and has made some drastic changes . Windows 10 has been by and large an improvement over Windows 8 , and now they ' ve brought a full Ubuntu distribution to Windows POSIXUNIX compatibility was one of the major items that caused more technical people to champion macOS historically . In short , it is definitely not true that the only reason anyone uses Windows is compatibility with Windows software and hardware devices .