The Rise and Fall of the IBM PC Part 3: The Cloners Strike Back

Read the script with a full set of endnotes on our Substack! https://anotherboringtopic.substack.com/p/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-ibm-pc

In this closing episode we take a look at IBM's two pronged assault on the clone market with the launch of the the OS/2 operating system and PS/2 line of computers. Success with OS/2 would ensure that Microsoft no longer controlled the dominant operating system while success with the PS/2 line of computers would ensure that those pesky cloners would no longer be a thorn in IBM's side.

But could IBM successfully develop a new operating system that would supersede MS-DOS while also creating a successful new hardware standard that was totally incompatible with existing IBM computers AND uncloneable?

0:00 Intro
7:44 Shots Fired: The PS/2 and Micro Channel
16:24 Failure To Launch: OS/2
29:24 Consumer Response to the PS/2
35:59 The Revolt of the Clones
38:02 Consumer Response to OS/2
42:28 The PS/2 and OS/2 Legacy

#OS2 #PS2 #MSDOS #IBM #documentary

Selected further reading:

The Another Boring Topic Substack: https://anotherboringtopic.substack.com/

Links:
The 640k Barrier
https://www.filfre.net/2017/04/the-640-k-barrier/

Half an Operating System: The Triumph and Tragedy of OS/2
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/11/half-an-operating-system-the-triumph-and-tragedy-of-os2/

Doing Windows Part 4: The Rapprochement
https://www.filfre.net/2018/07/doing-windows-part-4-the-rapprochement/

Books:
Blue Magic: The People, Power and Politics Behind the IBM Personal Computer, James Chposky

Big Blues: The Unmaking of IBM, Paul Carroll

Accidental Empires, Robert Cringely

In Search of Stupidity, Merrill Chapman

Byte:
Byte volume 13, number 11, Page 91 "The Micro Channel versus the AT Bus"

Byte 1988 Special Edition, "OS/2 Dreams"

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