23 Nov
2023
23 Nov
'23
12:47 a.m.
> Motorola tended to redesign from scratch, whereas
Intel would modify their previous design.
On Wed, 22 Nov 2023, Paul Koning wrote:
Which might explain why the x86 ISA is such a
convoluted tangle.
Although redesign from scratch will tend to produce a better product,
modifying previous design, with kludge on top of kludge, can provide
upwards compatability. Segment/Offset is a hassle, but it meant that 8
bit (16 address bits) software can work with it.
When the 5150 came out, the CP/M software companies, such as MicroPro
(Wordstar) and Sourcim (Supercalc), were able to port their products to it
much faster than anybody could port stuff to Macintosh. Though, Apple was
smart enough to include a "usable" word processor, so that nobody had to
wait for Word, etc., before using the machine.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com