Linux May Hit Single Digit Desktop Marketshare in 5 Years!!! 2380

On Fri, 25 Aug 2006 00:07:14 +0000, Tim Smith

Yep... That's because IBM still had the same mentality that they had with OS-2 V1.0 which only ran on PS-2 hardware. IOW they expected everyone to buy overpriced IBM hardware in order to run the world's greats OS.

I remember buying a Future Domain SCSI card at a computer show and it turned out to be an IBM bastardized version that would only work with IBM SCSI drives.

I called Future Domain up and they had pity on me and sent me the generic EPROM that would work with every drive including IBMs.

The hysterical part was, you could buy the generic version of the Future Domain card for about $200.00 back then. The IBM version was closer to $500.00 and was the same exact card, only it would only work with IBM drives..

It didn't take long for people to get peeed off....

How about the PS-2 and "IBM Advanced Diagnostics" which cost you a cool $150.00. Basically it was a book that told you to hit crtl-A to get into the advanced diagnostics.

Yep...Can you imagine how peeed off people were who bought that thing?

At least the IBMPC-XT-AT Tech ref. had schematics, BIOS listings and all kinds of great stuff.

The PS-2 was a total failure, mostly because of IBM's smugness.

And BTW OS-2 was YEARS ahead of Windows, especially the 2.x + versions.

However, pee off the developers, hardware manufacturers and consumers and you will not sell your product.

Linux better take a close look at why IBM failed.........