Windows NT 3.1 looked *EXACTLY* like Windows 3.1. Exactly. The exact same Program Manager Inteface. Of course you couldn't buy Windows NT in stores really, and it was a lot more money.. but my point was more about the fact that Microsoft has released new products that failed to be successes in their first, second, maybe even third versions.. Microsoft sticks with them.
The fact is, Microsoft's release strategy takes this into account in most cases. They understand that the first version is typically only bought by early adopters. They also tend to want to get the product out early, and cut a lot of the features they want in the product, and those features don't make it into the product until 2 or 3 releases later. It's not until the more fully featured version is out that it becomes more popular.
For instance, Windows NT 3.1 was originally released without OLE 2 (ie, only the crappy DDE based OLE from the Windows 2.x era). despite the fact that OLE2 was already long out for 2 years in Windows 3.1.