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with a floppy drive and monitor was
more than $3,000 (over $8,000 in
today’s money). Rivals smelled
opportunity, and with an open
architecture, it wouldn’t be long
before IBM clones would arrive.
Initially IBM wasn’t concerned:
While a PC could be mostly
replicated with retail parts, the BIOS
belonged to IBM, which guaranteed
proper IBM compatibility. However,
companies such as Award and
American Megatrends reverse
engineered IBM’s BIOS, and
companies such as Dell, Compaq,
and HP then used cloned BIOSes to
build clone machines.
The first clone came from
Columbia Data Products with
1982’s MPC 1600, but 1983 saw the
landmark Compaq Portable, the
first computer to be almost fully
IBM compatible. Compaq used
its own BIOS and provided a very
different form factor to a desktop
PC, with all the components in one
box, including a small CRT monitor.
When IBM released its ill-fated
budget PCjr in 1984, RadioShack
made a clone, the Tandy 1000. It was
far more successful than the PCjr,
with better PC compatibility. After
the PCjr’s cancelation, existing
software and peripherals came to
be associated with the Tandy.
Far cheaper clones were eroding
IBM’s control of the market, with its
share dropping from 76 percent in
1983 to 26 percent in 1986.ENTER THE 386
At least IBM had the technological
lead, but even that would be eroded
when Compaq released 1986’s
Deskpro 386. Intel had recently
released its 32-bit 80386 CPU, but
unfortunately for IBM, Compaq beat
it to market with a 386 machine
boasting 1MB of RAM and MS-DOS
3.1. This was two to five times faster
than a 286, with a base price of
$6,500. Compaq’s machines were
the very top of the line, and would
steal IBM’s title of business leader.
IBM fought back with 1987’s
Personal System/2 (PS/2), finally
releasing a 386 to market; the most
powerful model sporting a 20MHz
CPU, 2MB of RAM, and a 115MB
hard disk. This was a landmark
computer, standardizing on things
such as a 1.44MB 3.5-inch floppy,
and the PS/2 ports still used by
mice and keyboards. However, the
biggest leap was in the introductionof VGA graphics. On the desktop,
this meant 640x480 in 16 colors,
and a low-res mode of 320x200 in
256 colors, popular for gaming.
Despite the incredible advances,
IBM continued to lose ground to
the clones. Although the PS/2
line sold well for a time, IBM’s
machines were still too expensive
for the general public. As the ’80s
progressed, the name “PC” started
losing its association with IBM, and
the public started referring instead
to “IBM-compatibles.”
Although the PC was sweeping
A m e r i c a , i n m a n y r e g i o n s w o r l d w i d e
micros were still wildly popular—
Europe was particularly enamored
of the Atari ST and Commodore
Amiga. Where PCs were lacking
in the GUI stakes, these Motorola
68000-based machines already had
sophisticated GUIs and astonishing
multimedia capabilities that would
trounce PCs for some years—often
at a fraction of the cost.
Nevertheless, the PC continued
to grow and develop, with further
advancements such as 800x600
SVGA (Super VGA) graphics in 1988.
And the ’80s had one last trick up
their sleeve: In April 1989, Intel
released the 486, the powerhouse
CPU that would kick-start the next
decade. The first computer to ship
was IBM’s 486/25 Power Platform
in October, making it the most
powerful machine on the market.
However, 486 machines wouldn’t
enter most households until the
1990s—286s were still the order
of the day, and many brands were
still making budget XT clones.
Where a 386 was considered the
height of sophistication, a 486
was witchcraft. Nevertheless, the
’80s were a time of astonishing
technological progress: We entered
the decade with 8-bit micros and
left with full 32-bit processors and
SVGA graphics. It’s unlikely such
rapid progress will be repeated.The battle for which company and
OS will rule the PC starts with
the beginning of the PC itself.
Mention “DOS” and Microsoft DOS
will come to mind, but there are
plenty of variants. Enter Digital
Research’s CP/M-86. CP/M was
the original “DOS,” shipped with
most non-proprietary machines.
IBM originally planned to use CP/
M-86 with the PC, but negotiations
went sour when IBM wanted to pay
Digital Research a one-time fee,
rather than on-going royalties.
Meanwhile, Microsoft had
purchased a clone of CP/M-86
from Seattle Computer Products,
86-DOS (aka QDOS—Quick and
Dirty Operating System). This was
re-branded to MS-DOS and IBM’s
PC DOS, available for the PC. After
Digital Research threatened legal
action, IBM gave customers the
option to buy either CP/M-86 or
MS-DOS/PC DOS. MS-DOS/PC DOS
was the substantially cheaper
option, and outsold CP/M-86 in
overwhelming numbers.
IBM and Microsoft’s MS-DOS/
PC DOS partnership wouldn’t
last long, with the two products
gradually diverging over the
years, with different features
and compatibility. PC DOS
was designed for genuine IBM
hardware, and as IBM compatibles
took over the market, the more
generic MS-DOS would become
ubiquitous. Regardless, both
versions would stay in production
until the turn of the century.The OS
Wars Begin
IBM’s PC DOS
“By Microsoft”
partnership
didn’t last long.When it came
to business,
Apple forgot
the adage,
“No one ever
got fired for
buying IBM.”maximumpc.com DEC 2019 MAXIMUMPC 45