🚀 go-pugleaf

On Thu, 30 Jan 1997 13:58:30 GMT, Richard Travers <ri...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:

>With IBM's clout in selling IBM PCs into companies through their grip on
>the mainframe market, and Bill Gate's ownership of the operating system
>used, the development of alternative platforms had little chance.

Not true at all. The original PC had no less that THREE operating
systems. CPM/86 and the UCSD p-system were both sold with the PC; in
fact when you went into an IBM retail store and ordered your PC, you had
to specify which of them you wanted.

DOS took off for two reasons: it sold for $40 (for v1.1, $25 for 1.0)
while CP/M-86 was on the order of $250-$300, and Lotus 1-2-3 was
released on DOS first. Once the "Lotus computer" (as many referred to
it) was in place, DOS had momentum.

>Which is a shame, to put it mildly, because there are some much nicer
>and friendlier operating systems around, and, frankly, Microsoft
>software, for all its features and glitz, is not generally very good :-(

Better than some, worse than others. The old truism about trying to
please everyone still holds. Still, they have done remarkably well with
it all.

________________________________________________________________________
William de Haan   b...@deus.com    905-281-3523 Voice    905-281-3524 Fax
Deus Ex Machina Ltd., 3650 Kaneff Crescent, Mississauga, Ontario L5A 4A1
    No hablo espanol.    Non parlo Italiano.   eG'K Hy's Klingon.