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How the IBM PC Changed the World
Sabah Arif writes "On August 12, 1981, IBM released the IBM PC 5150. In less than two years, IBM had created a computer that would not only change IBM, but the entire world, mostly because it did not follow IBM tradition. It used an outside microprocessor (instead of the nascent IBM 801), operating system and software. Low End Mac recounts the birth of the IBM PC 5150."
If the PC was as tightly controlled as Apple's platform was... You probably would not ever have heard of Microsoft.
Microsoft didn't make the PC, IBM did. They were just lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, to ride the wave of "openness", which depended on their closed software for interoperability.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
There are just a few problems:
The x86 has managed to kill off every other competing processor in the desktop space and relegate them to embedded computing or history books. First Alpha, then MIPS, and finally the PowerPC. (I'm typing this on an Intel Mac). We are now back to one architecture again, which is good for compatibility, but sucks for platform diversity. Not that I'm complaining about my computer (or the latest x86 offerings in general); you can't go wrong with the 1.83GHz Core Duo. The new Xeon chips make a dream machine. Intel did a very good job with the internals of the processor, by making it RISC-like (while still maintaining the x86 instruction set) and making it perform fast and relatively cool at the same time. I also like AMD's offerings; the Athlon 64 makes 64-bit computing very affordable (with great performance). But what about 10-20 years from now? Where will the new computer architecture ideas (or, more specifically, microprocessor ideas) come from? Will we finally get beyond the x86 instruction set? (Anybody who can point me to some recent academic/industrial research in this area will make me happy).
Secondly, guess who is in the Trusted Computing Group? Intel and AMD. My Intel Mac has a TPM chip used to make sure I don't do something like purchasing a $299 Dell special desktop and installing OS X on it. Most new Core Duo laptops sold have some sort of TPM chip on them, although as of yet they have no use (unless you have a Mac). Imagine what happens when the law/**AA/Microsoft/whatever demands hardware-enforced DRM. Well, we already have the hardware on the Intel machines. AMD probably doesn't want to lose a few sales and doesn't want to look out of date, so they'll implement a TPM chip, too. Since there are no other architectures to choose from, you're stuck.
Now, hopefully this doesn't happen. I am optimistic that this won't happen. There is quite a bit of backlash of DRM (even with normal consumers; look at the Sony rootkit fiasco, for example). However, it can happen, and the architecture for hardware-enforced DRM is falling into place. It's just the software that's falling behind, as usual.
His conclusion was right but his premises were false. Apple made computers as well as or better than IBM. They just weren't as prescient on the business side. They failed to get a clue once they introduced the Macintosh, when it was time for both sides to lay down their chips. Microsoft, with Windows. Apple with the Macintosh Operating System. If Apple had chosen at that point to license its operating system we would be in a very different world today. I'm not sure that I would prefer that world, because chances are Apple would have become anti-competitive and monopolistic, and their product quality would have diminished. And Microsoft wouldn't have likely risen to be the resident industry source for R&D innovation like Apple has done in actuality.
In a way, they continue to make the same mistakes - only this time, they're not mistakes. They are still controlling every aspect of the platform. However, they are positioning themselves in such a way that will result in a much higher-profile competition with Microsoft - a head to head battle, the same hardware platform with different software. If Apple ever overtakes Microsoft in market share (in the distant future, if at all) they are then in a position to start licensing their operating system, and they will have recreated the opportunity they completely missed in 1984.
The fuss was about a computer that could be used in a business, vs the hobby computers that were popular before that.
Most of the hobby computers could not stand up to professional daily use, and the IBM PC could.
Personal computing went from hobby computing to being a business tool.
While it's true that Microsoft Flight Simulator (NOT Sublogic) was the compatability standard mentioned in every review, the thing that sold all those PCs and all those copies of PC/MS-DOS was Lotus 123. 123 made the PC the way VisiCalc made the Apple II. Because Lotus wrote directly to the video memory, "sorta" clones (DEC Rainbow anyone?) that had BIOS, but not physical compatability, had no chance.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
The 68000 didn't have fixed opcode size. The minimum was 2 bytes though. If you think 2 kinds of registers are a nuisance you should try programming on the x86!
Later 680x0 processors allowed you to use Dx registers as address registeres IIRC, but had a performance hit.
I had one of these speed demons. I grew up playing on my dad's Apple ][ (not plus) but played a lot of games. So he got me a 5150, fresh off the line. It had cassette ports even! But he splurged and got me the dual floppies. I still have my DOS1.0b diskettes and manual here, along with the other 3 manuals that came with it but sadly, the machine itself is no longer. In a bid to ensure that I wouldn't play games on it, my parents did not buy me the color graphics adapter and monitor. I had the monochrome monitor and adapter. I was a sad, sad boy. I couldn't even understand its assembly language. Sad, Sad boy of 15. Eventually I ended up getting a 300baud acoustic modem, shortly thereafter upgrading to 1200, and eventually ending up with an email address starting at !ihnp4!.... Life became more interesting around then...