[Coco] Fw: Re: The CoCo Crew Podcast -- Episode 35 is available!

[Salvador Garcia]

 Again, my apologies! Salvador


   ----- Forwarded Message ----- From: Salvador Garcia <salvadorgarciav at yahoo.com>To: Deny Wilson <deny.wilson at gmail.com>Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2018, 4:00:57 PM CDTSubject: Re: [Coco] The CoCo Crew Podcast -- Episode 35 is available!
  On Tuesday, April 17, 2018, 2:36:19 PM CDT, Deny Wilson <deny.wilson at gmail.com> wrote:
<snipped>I still curse the fact that
Microsoft and Intel basically destroyed all the interesting computers from
the 80's.
<snipped>

I have a different theory. I was in Mexico during the better part of the PC revolution (1984 - 95), so I can only share my perception.

Personally, I blame IBM. This company was always the de facto standard for large corporations. Before 1981, Radio Shack and Apple were vying for control of the corporate world.. Both wooed schools, with Apple taking the lead.

When IBM came out with their personal computer and the promises that accompanied it, many flocked to it. Corporations, large and small, went with the company that had decades in the business of taking care of business' computing needs. From one day to the next, IBM was competing and sweeping the floor with Radio Shack and Apple. Back then the IBM PC was expensive. I recall seeing prices going up to $3,000 (USD). Still, business saw these computer as the "safe buy", and hence the motto "Can't get fired by buying IBM" was born.

Soon, other manufacturers started to make IBM compatible computer and thus the PC Clone market was born. The vendor figured out how to make IBM PC compatibles for a lower cost. While IBM was selling for $3,000, other began selling for $2,000. costs for components began to go down, so computers got more powerful while retaining a similar price tag. 

The the Intel 386 came out. Tech people were as eager for this processor to debut as movie goers are excited about the next Avenger movie. 

Since the IBM PC and clones were still expensive, they were limited to business use. This gave the Other Computers a second lease on life and many continued to be used well into the 90s. But by the mid to end 90s, prices on PC clones had come down enough that the price difference between a PC clone and Other Computer was negligible. Once the PC Clone was inexpensive enough more and more people migrated to this platform, reaching a turning point where many manufacturers of Other Computers folded.

Currently, anyone that goes to buy a computer will be buying a Microsoft/Intel (WIn) machine. The few exceptions are Android and Apple. :-) Salvador