Incidentally, the term "microcode" for the OS kernel originated with the AS/400's predecessor, the System/38, because, as a legacy of '60s-era lawsuits, it was

Incidentally, the term "microcode" for the OS kernel originated with the AS/400's predecessor, the System/38, because, as a legacy of '60s-era lawsuits, it was IBM's policy at the time to separate hardware and software sales and development costs. Bundling microcode with hardware, on the other hand, was standard practice. The designers' idea was to build and sell the hardware and software stack as an integrated product, never to implement an operating system or RDBMS "in hardware". For an explanation of this integrated architecture from one of its original designers, see https://archive.org/details/insideas4000000solt/page/75/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/insideas4000000solt/page/75/mode... (registration and check-out required)