9 Aug
2011
9 Aug
'11
8:03 p.m.
On Tue, 9 Aug 2011, Dave McGuire wrote:
The original IBM PC design team couldn't find
their own asses with
both hands, a funnel, and a roadmap. It was a success in the market
purely by accident. I don't think their original intentions really
carry much weight here; it was a miracle the thing worked at all, much
less sold.
I disagree. No problem with the sentiment that it was a miracle that it
worked at all, although the prevailing "wisdom" at the time seemed to be
that parity errors could be eliminated as a problem by ceasing to
implement parity.
BUT, . . .
30 years ago, we agreed that no matter how bad IBM might implement the
machine, that within less than a decade, computers would be in two
categories: IBM and imitations of IBM. We underestimated Apple's
remarkable ability to survive IBM.
The speculation before the PC was bizarre! One mag said that the new
machine would be switchable between emulating TRS80, Apple][, and C/M.