Xref: utzoo comp.os.minix:7838 comp.sys.ibm.pc:37651 comp.unix.xenix:8414
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!texbell!vector!attctc!chasm
From: chasm@attctc.Dallas.TX.US (Charles Marslett)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix,comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.unix.xenix
Subject: Re: IBM and Apple Operating Systems (Re: dosread.c again)
Message-ID: <10038@attctc.Dallas.TX.US>
Date: 5 Nov 89 20:12:45 GMT
References: <4992@internal.Apple.COM>
Followup-To: comp.os.ibm.pc
Organization: The Unix(R) Connection, Dallas, Texas
Lines: 59

In article <4992@internal.Apple.COM>, desnoyer@apple.com (Peter Desnoyers) writes:
> In article <1774@naucse.UUCP> wew@naucse.UUCP (Bill Wilson) writes:
> > What thriving industry?  At the point that the IBM PC came out there
> > was little going on in the Home/Desktop PC market.  Yes there were
> > CP/M based machines that could be purchased for a small fortune, but
> > I would not call it a thriving industry.  IBM went out on a limb 
> > and the gamble paid off.
> 
> Hmm. I'm not sure everyone would agree absolutely with that statement.

You think anyone would disagree that the gamble paid off?  PC's may not be
all of IBM's business, but they are big enough to come up regularly in the
strategy sessions, I am sure!

And if you disagree that they went out on a limb, you probably were not there
then.  [There are lots of reasons that could have logically been advanced to
point out why the IBM PC would be a flop -- the OS was not much better than
CP/M, it cost more than an Apple II (by $35), and it had lots less software
available than either!]

And if the comment applied to the "small fortune" mention, I quote from a
Playboy, May, 1982, article on personal computers:

Manufacturer/Model     Base Price    Typical Price
Sinclair ZX81           $150          $250+TV
Commodore VIC 20        $300          $485+TV
Atari 400               $399          $510+TV
Osborne I              $1795         $2095
Atari 800               $899         $2625+TV
Apple II Plus          $1530         $3130+TV
Commodore CBM 8032     $1495         $4285
IBM PC                 $1565         $4445
Zenith Z90             $3195         $4790
Radio Shack TRS80-III   $699         $5098
North Star Advantage   $3999         $5500
Apple III              $4690         $5760

If you allow for inflation, a nice Amiga, Mac or IBM clone can be had for
the price of a cassette based 6502 machine of that day.

The only machines on that list that had an OS to speak of at all are the
Ataris, the CP/M boxes, and the Apple computers.

And only the most expensive, the Apple III, had comparable memory.  None
had comparable expansion capabilities.

By the way, the article concluded by pointing out that there were benefits
to be gained from "standard" products available from multiple vendors if you
want the computer you buy to have a "long and useful life", sugguesting a
CP/M box.

>                                       Peter Desnoyers
>                                       Apple ATG
>                                       (408) 974-4469
Fortelling the future is risky,

Charles Marslett
chasm@attctc.dallas.tx.us
[of STB Systems, Inc, and Wordmark Systems]