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From: rbr@bonnie.ATT.COM (4197,ATTT)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: When will the 8088 die?
Message-ID: <1990Dec5.152318.7316@cbnewsl.att.com>
Date: 5 Dec 90 15:23:18 GMT
References: <90335.202651F0O@psuvm.psu.edu> <3360005@hpsgwp.sgp.hp.com> <1990Dec4.014539.13773@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu> <1990Dec4.160730.15617@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca>
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Reply-To: rbr@bonnie.ATT.COM (Bob Rager)
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Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 13

The 8088 / 8086 will die when Intel and others no longer have a market.
But who cares, isn't MessyDOS the real culprit that determines this
stupid architecture.  Is it not M*DOS that puts the BIOS and video RAM
at the "top" of memory?  Apple made the same blunder by putting the
video RAM and system at "top" of the original Apple II memory.  Then
RAM got real cheap and everyone had 64K and video in the middle of the
user's memory.

A better question would be, "When can we get rid of M*DOS".  Why not put
the BIOS & system stuff in low RAM and give the user all they can afford
above that level.  Why not a "virtual memory" OS ?  

Bob Rager