Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site watdcsu.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!watnot!watdcsu!broehl
From: broehl@watdcsu.UUCP (Bernie Roehl)
Newsgroups: net.micro,net.arch
Subject: Re: What if IBM Had chosen the 68000? Not what you think Re: 386 Family Products
Message-ID: <1904@watdcsu.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 20-Nov-85 16:44:16 EST
Article-I.D.: watdcsu.1904
Posted: Wed Nov 20 16:44:16 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 21-Nov-85 03:18:43 EST
References: <129@intelca.UUCP> <392@aum.UUCP> <225@l5.uucp>
Reply-To: broehl@watdcsu.UUCP (Bernie Roehl)
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 30
Xref: watmath net.micro:12761 net.arch:2123

In article <7490@watdaisy.UUCP> jkpachl@watdaisy.UUCP (Jan Pachl) writes:
>As far as I know, the main reason why IBM did not choose 68000 for the PC
>was that at the time there was no second source for the 68000 chips;
>certainly a very prudent decision.
>
>Does anybody know anything more about this point?
> 
>                                               Jan Pachl

As far as I remember, there were at least three reasons for choosing the
8088:

   1.  The 68000 was not second-sourced.
   2.  The 8088 could use an 8-bit data bus, and was thus less expensive.
   3.  There was a large software base instantly available simply by
       reassembling 8080 CP/M programs (which is why DOS 1.00 was so
       much like CP/M).

In retrospect, it was a good choice; the PC succeeded.  (And don't say it's
just because it had IBM's logo on the front; those three little letters
didn't help the PC JR, and didn't help IBM's first PC much either (how many
people even remember the 5100?  It had Basic and APL in rom, as I recall,
along with 64k of ram and a proprietary processor).  IBM may be big and
well known, and that may be enough in the mainframe world, but consumers
don't care about prestige as much as they do about things like support and
price/performance).

I agree, it would have been interesting if IBM had gone 68k; however, I
suspect that Brad Templeton may be right about what would have happened
as a result.