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To build on your idea: the presence of PC clones meant that a business that invests large sums of money in off the shelf and custom software solutions could be
by tcbawo 3y ago
To build on your idea: the presence of PC clones meant that a business that invests large sums of money in off the shelf and custom software solutions could be retained if their hardware vendor went out of business or failed to keep up with other clones. This aspect is highly underrated by many retro computing enthusiasts. Some software systems are too large to ever rewrite. These days, system emulation has come a long way. But at the time, the value proposition of essentially guaranteed long term support for business software was the killer feature that propelled the x86+DOS/Windows to become the dominant system.
- ddingus 3y agoAgreed. And that "hairball" (great term BTW, I love it) involved custom silicon that delivered expensive capabilities. Revising that cost too much. The PC was kind of simple in this way. So were some of the systems. I look at the Apple, which was very PC like, and the Atari ST, and when compared to systems offering custom silicon, it seemed like a no brainer choice. But, software ports were easier, CPU speeds could be increased easily, and the lack of custom silicon drove some longer term usability. Today, we may be moving back toward another custom silicon era. Expensive capabilities put into hardware will be compelling, but may also be something of a dead end. Maybe the scale and speed of what we have today will marginalize how this could work too. Interesting times ahead, as they were back then.