Any nontechnologist ventures into the browser wars at his peril, but here is how I understand  After initially missing the significance of the Internet, Microsoft has gone to the other extreme, designing Windows 95 so that it uses an Internetlike metaphor for everything.
A lot of non-computer-savvy people tend to have challenges when choosing which operating system is best to use.
But I come away thinking Lemann let his narrative sidetrack him from the issue he cares about  The huge question of whether our current meritocratic system is just or unjust, and what we can do about it?