HowStandardsEmerge underlies some of the discussion going on on WhyLinuxSucks.

There is a stage where the IBM PC became a ''de facto'' standard which lots of different manufactures emulated with ''clones'' which in many cases went beyond what was available on the original IBM PC models.  Some of the later problems, associated with memory limits of the architecture, only became important later.

The interesting thing is the situation immediately before the IBM PC came out. There was a generation of microcomputers without MSDOS which did not then exist. The ''standard'' operating system for these was CP/M and there existed word processors and spreadsheets which had to operate with key strokes as the mouse pointer thing was not widely used. See also BeforeMicrosoft.

For the IBM PC see PeeCee or refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer

There is a wider question of how standards emerge in a competitive environment, of which there are many other cases.

''My understanding is that IBM used mostly-standard components for two reasons. First, their first PC attempt failed in part because it was so closed. Second, they wanted to get it to market quickly before other contenders became too established, and using off-the-shelf components greatly helped there. Anti-trust investigation pressure may have also played a part in their decision. -t''
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Okay, let's also not forget the humble 64 KB (yes, you read that right), 1 MHz (yes, you read that right as well), 6502-based (yes, you are still reading correctly) Apple II. I did a lot of productive work on that box and got paid for it. Mailing lists, printer and other device controllers, various business applications. At Motorola Automotive Div we used Apple IIs as the platform for research laboratory instruments, for driving ATE, and for general development tools. Of course, once the IBM PC-AT came in the Apples were dropped like a hot rock. -- MartySchrader

That is interesting. One idea which was used in the Apple II (AppleIi) and also in the IBM PC was the open access which allowed third party cards to be added to the computer. -- JohnFletcher (also the author above) 
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See: IndustryStandard (a page not edited since 2001)

CategoryHistory