Apple‘s Struggle to Survive the IBM PC

Comments · 688

• TH

  @thecorruptedbit5585 · 3 years ago (edited)

  I love this era of computing. Everything was happening so fast and the market was expanding so quickly, that you had to keep innovating just to survive the cutthroat competition.

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• DO

  @donkeyshot2345 · 3 years ago (edited)

  Trivia: IBM only ditched Lotus as their corporate email platform... last year in 2022.

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• BR

  @brandenhall3164 · 3 years ago

  Slight correction - only around 200 Apple Is were made - I believe the 300,000 number you mentioned are Apple IIs.

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• BA

  @Bakensobek · 3 years ago

  May I submit a correction? The original disk drive controller for the Apple II was called the "Disk II controller". The "Integrated Woz Machine" was the single-chip version used in later models like the IIGS and IIc.

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• AL

  @AlanVanneman-p4n · 3 years ago

  Both the Alto computer and Aldus Pagemaker are shoutouts to Aldus Manutius, a Rennaissance printer who designed "small" books that could fit into saddlebags and worked with the legendary Humanist Erasmas (who is the guy on the Pagemaker logo). Among other things, Aldus developed the first fonts used to print copies of classic Greek literature, as well as the original texts of the New Testament.

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• GU

  @gus473 · 3 years ago

  My Mac IIe was so s-l-o-w I had CompUSA bust the case and double its memory for &quot;only&quot; $150. Wish I had instead put that money into Apple common stock! <br>¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

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• MA

  @makerspace533 · 3 years ago

  S-100 computers were the king when the Apple II was brought to the market. &nbsp;At first it appeared that the Apple II would be an open design so small companies started making various add-on boards for various tasks. &nbsp;It was when Franklin and a couple other firms decided to start making Apple II clones. &nbsp;Apple went after them with a vengeance and soon the clones were history. &nbsp;When IBM came out with the PC, immediately clones started appearing. &nbsp;The only thing holding them back was the firmware BIOS that was owned by IBM. &nbsp;Companies like Compaq developed clean versions of the BIOS using software engineers who wrote the bios from scratch using only the specifications of the BIOS, never looking at any of the source. &nbsp; So before long there were 10&apos;s of companies building PC compatibles at low price. &nbsp;I don&apos;t think affected IBM very much because most of the IBM customers were not going to take their chances on a clone. &nbsp;Apple locked down their design thus limiting the installation base of the Apple II and Mac architectures.

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• KE

  @Kevin_Kennelly · 3 years ago (edited)

  I worked for a publishing company in the 80s;<br>We published a group of magazines targeted at computer manufacturers (DEC, IBM, HP).<br>We had an &apos;art department&apos;, as you describe it. &nbsp; People cutting and pasting strips of text into the shape of a printed page.<br><br>And then along came Adobe with Aldus Page Maker.<br>We bought a Mac and an IBM PC-AT. &nbsp; Installed Pagemaker on both. &nbsp;And sat them down side by side in the Art Department.<br><br>It took a day to decide.<br><br>I ended up buying every new Mac that came out. &nbsp;<br><br>And the SAVINGS were insane. &nbsp; <br>Before you print 250000 copies of the magazine, you have to print ONE copy and have the advertisers approve it.<br>That costs about $6000 per page.<br>Until you can do it yourself. &nbsp; &nbsp;<br>And the big machine that spewed out columns of printed text to be cut/pasted....gets unplugged.<br><br>And I got to avoid having to support the IBM PC and Windows.<br>Thank you Adobe.<br>I named my son Aldus.

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• JR

  @jrherita · 3 years ago

  IBM went to Atari HQ in 1980-1981 and briefly considered licensing or using the Atari 800 as the basis for the original PC.

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• UZ

  @uzetaab · 3 years ago

  Maybe I misunderstood something, but it sounded like Steve Jobs almost killed the company in the 80s.

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• SC

  @ScrapKing73 · 2 years ago

  Not going to lie, I want to live in the alternate universe where Commodore came out on top. &nbsp;The Amiga was so far ahead of the Mac and PC in the mid-to-late 80s...

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• EM

  @emgpus · 2 years ago

  I noticed you said &quot;Apple I&quot; instead of &quot;Apple II&quot; around <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GX7wQQmolM&amp;t=10">0:10</a>. There were only a total of roughly 175 Apple Is sold.

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