5 ms·

Well, people wanted the same computers at home that they used at work, at least many did. For a while, when businesses were using computers like the TRS-80 line

Well, people wanted the same computers at home that they used at work, at least many did. For a while, when businesses were using computers like the TRS-80 line, people would buy them for home also. But when the business world standardized on the intel-based PC, that's what drove a lot of people to buy those for their homes also. So they could do work at home, and use software they were familiar with.

ghaff 8y ago
It also just seemed pretty obvious (perhaps modulo even pre-Mac Apple) that the "PC" was just where the puck was headed in terms of software, etc. I was shopping for my first computer ~1982/3 and I started out looking at a whole bunch of different options (mostly various Z80 systems) but by the time I bought one (in probably 1983), it was pretty obvious to then me that an IBM PC clone was the way to go. As you suggest, at least part of the influence was that, although I had used some Apples at work, we had switched to using an IBM PC which probably colored my thinking. Although I used them some in grad school later, I never got into Macs until relatively recently--and that was for basically work related reasons as well. (We basically don't use Windows and I didn't want to use solely Linux for presentations, etc.)
- kgwgk 8y ago
  > IBM PC clone was the way to go. It was also many times as expensive, I think.
  - ghaff 8y ago
    As I recall, it varied. There were certainly relatively cheap Z80 and other machines like the Commodore 64. But I don't remember systems like the Apple III, Epson's machines, etc. being vastly different in price given the same floppy-only configuration.
    - UncleSlacky 8y ago
      The first "affordable" PC clones (in Europe at least) didn't appear until 1986, with the Amstrad PC1512 (apparently also marketed in the US as the PC6400): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC1512 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC1512
      - dragonwriter 8y ago
        The first (and most successful for many years) in the US was the Tandy 1000, which appeared in 1984.
      - ghaff 8y ago
        Much earlier in the US. Most notably Compaq (founded in 1982). But many others. The one I bought in 1983 or so was from a company called Corona. I think Eagle was another.
  - dragonwriter 8y ago
    Retail price? Sure, but a number of large US conglomerates (the early PC era was also the height, or maybe just the tail end, of the period of big unfocussed US conglomerates) built clones in house and offered steep employee discounts across the whole conglomerate, not just the division that made and sold PCs.

ghaff 8y ago

It also just seemed pretty obvious (perhaps modulo even pre-Mac Apple) that the "PC" was just where the puck was headed in terms of software, etc. I was shopping for my first computer ~1982/3 and I started out looking at a whole bunch of different options (mostly various Z80 systems) but by the time I bought one (in probably 1983), it was pretty obvious to then me that an IBM PC clone was the way to go. As you suggest, at least part of the influence was that, although I had used some Apples at work, we had switched to using an IBM PC which probably colored my thinking. Although I used them some in grad school later, I never got into Macs until relatively recently--and that was for basically work related reasons as well. (We basically don't use Windows and I didn't want to use solely Linux for presentations, etc.)

kgwgk 8y ago
> IBM PC clone was the way to go. It was also many times as expensive, I think.
- ghaff 8y ago
  As I recall, it varied. There were certainly relatively cheap Z80 and other machines like the Commodore 64. But I don't remember systems like the Apple III, Epson's machines, etc. being vastly different in price given the same floppy-only configuration.
  - UncleSlacky 8y ago
    The first "affordable" PC clones (in Europe at least) didn't appear until 1986, with the Amstrad PC1512 (apparently also marketed in the US as the PC6400): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC1512 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC1512
    - dragonwriter 8y ago
      The first (and most successful for many years) in the US was the Tandy 1000, which appeared in 1984.
    - ghaff 8y ago
      Much earlier in the US. Most notably Compaq (founded in 1982). But many others. The one I bought in 1983 or so was from a company called Corona. I think Eagle was another.
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  Retail price? Sure, but a number of large US conglomerates (the early PC era was also the height, or maybe just the tail end, of the period of big unfocussed US conglomerates) built clones in house and offered steep employee discounts across the whole conglomerate, not just the division that made and sold PCs.