[cctalk] Re: Intel 3086

The late Luiz Barroso used to say that the x86 ISA is the most successful ISA ever designed, by sheer numbers and longevity. I guess time will tell, but so far, I think he has been right. The instruction set is still out there, likely with more binaries compiled for one version or another than for any other ISA. Intel's recent attempts to remove backward compatibility for 16-bit Real Mode (X86-S, which failed) are a case in point.