Cary, you're somewhat right about IBM. The PC business at the time was viewed as cannibalizing the mini/mainframe markets, and so the PC development within IBM was very much a rogue, rebellious, shoestring operation. They slapped together a cheapo prototype, got buried in orders for it, and didn't look back. They should have.
Because IBM had "the reputation" at the time, IT managers could do no wrong investing in IBM equipment. The PC penetrated the business world as the Apple IIc (and later the Mac) penetrated the academic/artistic world.
However - IBM did something Apple didn't. They opened the hardware architecture to third party development - expansion cards, etc. (I'm not clear on it, but their licensing agreement with Intel may have forced this.) Thus, 8-bit ISA cards (and entire subsystems, like MFM hard drives and controllers) developed faster and cheaper during the PC's nascent period. For the IT guys and the CFO's, cost was everything, and TCO calculations were far off on the horizon.
(IBM later tried to go the Apple route with a proprietary interface ... remember MicroChannel? By that point, though, they didn't have the market share clout to make it work.)
Eventually, by FAILING to adopt and pursue the PC revolution, IBM lost its dominant computing role (remember *that* DOJ monopoly lawsuit?) and has transformed itself into a niche player with a consulting business. Apple, meanwhile, put short-term profit above market share, and priced themselves out of most business markets.
So, two different companies' protection of profit (IBM -- mainframe business; Apple -- tight and expensive licensing) gave us the chaotic hardware situation we see today.
Note that I said NOTHING about MSFT and one line about INTC and their contributions to this mess. In the beginning years of the PC industry, they were more parasitic to the decisions IBM made, and only came into their own after the "PC-compatible" won the market share war independent of IBM.
So, I blame our current chaos not so much on MSFT, but on the IBM business mentality. It forced the original PC engineers to make design compromises that we live with today. (IRQ and DMA conflicts, for example?) MSFT was more an accessory after the fact.
- Mitch |
