Re: What no opaque sticky label ont' window?



In article <4f3a831f29john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
says...
In article <MPG.2192c472a915d19989c9a@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Halmyre <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In article <1arf1whtcibde$.146pk2ldefe.dlg@xxxxxxxxxx>,
plink.1.RoyTubb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx says...
On Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:56:47 -0500, Allen wrote:

I have a tube of them that I have kept as a souvenir of the
original IBM PC days.

IBM came too late to what we used to call home computers, and missed the
boat as result.

??? IBM invented what we know now as the home computer, they just lost the
plot along the way.

No.

The IBM PC arrived in 1981 after the TRS-80, Apple][, Atari 400/800, Commodore
PET & Vic-20, TI-99/4, Acorn Atom, &c. and alongside the Acorn BBC A/B -
though, unlike the IBM, the latter worked. IBM were behind even with the later
attempted move to 32-bit RISC machines where they pitted their massive fortune
against little Acorn - and lost* again: IBM used the might of a mainframe
computer to help them with the software design whilst Acorn had to make do
with the brain of Sophie Wilson. IBM gave up and Acorn produced the first home
RISC computer.

The PC took over because people were willing to subsidise non-working
computers as long as they had the IBM badge on it - something that was taken
over by Microsoft.

*Of course if you have enough money, are prepared to lie, and have a home
market of the USA you still win in the long run. ;-(

NB I'm biased - so I'd better show my full sig.



All the PC's predecessors were 'hobby' machines, for want of a better
expression, albeit that VisiCalc turned the Apple II into a business machine.
What I meant was that the IBM PC is considered, rightly or wrongly, Year Zero
as far as the home PC is concerned.

--
Halmyre

What in Swansea are going on here?!
.



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