True, but 1) it was not a well-designed good platform 2) it wasn't free and open-source. Linux is becoming a monopoly too (and is a monopoly in some segments.
No monopoly will ever meet your first criteria over a long period of time. Absent competition and a plethora of competing engineering platforms, there's simply no pressure to make things well designed, and no competitive selection to help distinguish what even is well designed.
The idea that we can have the good parts of a monoculture but "do it right this time" and avoid the horrific downsides is a fantasy.
I'm pretty sure Windows at the time (before monopoly) was a preferable platform than it's competitors.
Problem is that there doesn't exist a platform that can be made and satisfy all possible use cases present and future alike.
Wishing Google descends from the heavens and make a perfect Web APP platform/protocol, is akin to believing a God will descend from the heavens and grant all people's wishes (even if they contradict each other).
