Comment Re:ubiquity or control (Score 1) 671
The PC wasn't particularly open or standard when it came out. It was incompatible at a binary level with the Apple ][, the TRS-80, S-100 bus + CP/M OS machines, and other common microcomputers of the day.
The PC rode to success on IBM's mainframe dominance and the adage "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM." The fact that it was possible to clone the PC was a side effect of a short time-to-market, and the failure of IBM to realize what letting Microsoft sell DOS elsewhere would really mean.
Once clones started going strong, IBM tried to take the PC platform proprietary again. IBM tried to switch PC expansion slots from the ISA bus to the Microchannel bus -- which would have let them use Microchannel patents to impose royalty taxes on all other PC makers. IBM also planned to replace DOS with OS/2.
The PC rode to success on IBM's mainframe dominance and the adage "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM." The fact that it was possible to clone the PC was a side effect of a short time-to-market, and the failure of IBM to realize what letting Microsoft sell DOS elsewhere would really mean.
Once clones started going strong, IBM tried to take the PC platform proprietary again. IBM tried to switch PC expansion slots from the ISA bus to the Microchannel bus -- which would have let them use Microchannel patents to impose royalty taxes on all other PC makers. IBM also planned to replace DOS with OS/2.
