I was acquainted with a couple of guys from the Niwot plant (IBM) who were
temporarily assigned to BOCA for the PC development effort. The company
actually gathered quite a number of hobbyists to see what information they
could get from them. Apparently they didn't listen too well. Back in '81,
when the PC came out, it was pretty widely believed that IBM had gotten the
form factor for its cards and the notion of packaging for I/O in the way
they used from the Apple-][. It (Apple) was, after all, the most successful
single company in the personal computer market and seizing a major share of
the desktop market. Their approach wasn't a bad one from the I/O
convenience standpoint.
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Sellam Ismail <dastar_at_ncal.verio.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp_at_u.washington.edu>
Date: Thursday, July 01, 1999 9:09 PM
Subject: Re: PC form factor
>On Thu, 1 Jul 1999, William Donzelli wrote:
>
>> > Since most folks are right-handed, having the drives on the right is
pretty
>> > reasonable. The physical design was allegedly patterened after the
>> > pple-][ whose market IBM coveted.
>>
>> I really doubt that they looked at Apple for the design. IBM has pretty
>> much been on top of the pile as far as ergonomics and ease of maintenance
>> since the 1950s. Sure, the PC is not exactly their shining moment, but it
>> does show some thought for a design with a low production cost in mind.
>
>Acually, there are rumors abound that IBM modeled the PC after the
>successful Apple ][. But, rhey are just rumors and anecdotes passed
>around like those in Dick's message.
>
>Sellam Alternate e-mail:
dastar_at_siconic.com
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
>Don't rub the lamp if you don't want the genie to come out.
>
> Coming this October 2-3: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0!
> See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details!
> [Last web site update: 05/25/99]
>
Received on Fri Jul 02 1999 - 00:58:46 BST