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http://www.macnn.com/articles/01/08/08/techtv:.apple/

TechTV: Apple helped created Wintel dominance

updated 09:10 pm EDT, Wed August 8, 2001

 
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The Wintel architecture dominance was due in part to Apple, according to an article at TechTV.com noted by MacNN reader Norm Phillips: "The fact that IBM shared the technical aspects surrounding the PC with Microsoft and Intel actually contributed greatly to its success and helped it dominate in its fight with Apple, which is entirely proprietary."


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    08/08, 10:28pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    No

    No, you don't say! Really? All this time I thought it was superior PC/Wintel technology!

  1. 0

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    08/08, 11:51pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    Uh, no...

    It wasn't IBM who shared info that made it standard, it was Compaq (I think it was compaq, maybe it was one of those other ones whose name I can't remember) who backward engineered the BIOS which allowed for clones. Since the PC's BIOS only contained rudimentary info, it wasn't too hard to copy, as opposed to the Mac's ROM-based toolbox.

    Put that with IBM's boneheaded move of giving the rights to DOS to MS, which allowed them to sell it to the clone makers, and you have all the ingredients of getting market share (I remember having a conversation with an idiot back in early 1985, who was trying to tell me why his DOS-based PC was so much better than that toy of a Mac I had - OK, my father had).

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    08/08, 11:54pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    Where's the news

    I know people have been kicking MacNN for posting up "news" on some guys comparisons of Macs to PCs, some guy's rebuttal to said charts, some guy painting his iBook, etc., but at least you could call it "news" in the sense it was "New". This isn't even news. Its a reference piece, an essay, like something a comp sci student would write up for some class. It could've been written at any time.

  1. 0

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    08/09, 12:13am | report spam | Reply | delete

    ...

    Every PC at that time was propietary; that isn't Apple's fault. IBM released all technical information about it's PC on the belief that no clone maker would ever have the volume to buy the parts at the prices IBM could buy them for. By releasing information on the bios, IBM made it harder to simply steal code and claim that you had legally reversed-engineered the bios. IBM continued to lead until it couldn't release a new model in less than 3 years. Compaq went ahead without IBM and won out. The PC world was built by pure stupidity. Too bad it's still the same.

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    08/09, 12:28am | report spam | Reply | delete

    Cringley

    Read "Accidental Empires" by Robert Cringley to learn how Wintel "stumbled" to dominance on the back of the IBM name.

  1. 0

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    08/09, 07:58am | report spam | Reply | delete

    did IBM win?

    I did not read the article but the headline suggest IBM won. I think the only real winners are intel and microsoft. I'm not sure what IBM's market share is, but they certainly don't have the whole PC market (Dell, Compaq, etc.)

    ...I don't even rember the last time I've seen an IBM PC.

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    08/09, 08:48am | report spam | Reply | delete

    His First Day Back

    I wrote this guy to let him know that if he falls asleep for 30 years again, he shouldn't try and write relevant commentary as soon as he wakes up. He's got to give himself a day or two to catch up...

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    08/09, 09:49am | report spam | Reply | delete

    Proprietary

    I find quite amusing to read that Apple has proprietary technology... As if Microsoft wasn't build on proprietary technology ! Because, it is obvious, Wintel folks have the choice : Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows Me, Windows 2000. Thank God they aren't stuck with proprietary technology as we are !

    Back then, of course, there was a difference and Apple's technology was more "proprietary". But nowadays ??? Its the complete opposite !

  1. 0

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    08/09, 10:14am | report spam | Reply | delete

    re: uh, no...

    IBM hired Microsoft to make DOS and it's BIOS wasn't reverse-engineered, making PCs popular because BIOSs are copyrighted (if you boot up a PC you'll notice the copyright next to many BIOS names)... if that was the case then Apple's ROMs could've been reverse-engineered just as easily... it was NOT Compaq who did the reverse-engineering because they would have been sued to death- Compaq is just another 'me too' computer maker (with very sub-par systems). IBM simply changed it's licensing on it's previously proprietary PC technologies- remember it was IBM that originally thought there was no market for home computing... then they found they had to play catch-up with Apple- and they more than succeeded- especially when PageMaker was ported to the PC and people found they could do DTP with cheaper PCs. Apple is still very proprietary, if you don't agree, then where are the clones?? It's all about the licensing. IBM also lost control of what 3rd parties could add to PCs and ended up losing to competition in the home market (which is why they lost the OS/2 battle and why, a few years back, they even stopped making the Aptiva home computers which, ironically, could not run OS/2). If Apple had followed the same path they'd probably be only specializing in making software... for which platform? Probably Wintel...

  1. 0

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    08/09, 10:59am | report spam | Reply | delete

    re: uh, no...

    Yes, IBM did hire Microsoft to create the PC's DOS, but the IBM PC BIOS was indeed reverse-engineered by Compaq, or a company working for Compaq-- believe it or not, you were able to do things like that in those days without being set upon by a horde of barbarian lawyers. The exact procedure is detailed in "Triumph of the Nerds," a special hosted by Robert Cringely (based on the book "Accidental Empires") that runs on PBS from time to time and can be purchased on video from Amazon and other places. I have also read of it in other books.

    I suggest you buy it, watch it, and learn some computer industry history before you spout off in the future.

    ~Philly

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