James Baird wrote:
> Round about 1980, IBM decided to get into the micro market. Since
> they didn't take it very seriously (they figured they'd sell a few
> thousand machines to hobbists and small businesses), they decided to do
> it quick and dirty by putting it together from off-the-shelf parts.
> They would use an existing processor (the Intel 8088) and license an
> existing OS.
Apple had already made the micro market a very serious enterprise, and made itself millions in the process.
IBM took the new market very seriously, and rushed in to play catch-up. But they were indeed deeply clueless -- 3-4 years behind the market, which in computers is like forever.
It took years for the IBM to be the equal of the Apple II, and by then there was the Macintosh.
They didn't build their machine themselves because they flat out couldn't do it fast enough. So they understood something about the large-scale dynamics, but the devil in the details was well beyond their ken. And wee Billy Gates was the devil to beat them all.
-- Paul Rosenberg Reason and Democracy rad at gte.net
"Let's put the information BACK into the information age!"