On 18 Jun 99 at 23:23, Lawrence Walker wrote:
> On 18 Jun 99 at 14:11, Kai Kaltenbach wrote:
>
> > Here's the first draft at a list of the Top 150 Collectible Microcomputers
> > (from the U.S.A.). I would have gone for Top 100 but there are just too
> > many great machines, and 200 is too many.
> >
> > It's currently at 133 items. Some related models are combined as one, even
> > though they are rather different... other similar models are kept separate.
> > This is basically just because I personally feel they rate their own
> > separate listing, feel free to disagree.
> >
> Good list but definitely flame-bait. :^)
> One glaring ommission is Grid. Eminently collectable.
> I would have included the Atari XEs as Atari XL/XE.
> Also the Atari Stacy was the travelling musicians favorite
> and is still hard to come by and retains its' price level very well.
> The laptops are under-represented. As well as the Grid and STacy the
> Epson QX20, Zenith Sportster and Nec Multispeed come to mind.
> The Tandy 1000/2000's would be on some collectors lists.
> The Hyperion and Icon are highly collectable but I think they were made in
> Canada.
>
> ciao larry
>
>
Oops, looking more closely at your justification I see you do have the
Hyperion and the Epson HX-20 which I misnamed the QX-20.
The ST was also, besides Atari's venture into GUIs the first with MIDI I/O
and the most-used for professional music.
>>About the newest thing on the list is the PS/2 80, and I had to think about
>>that for a while. I left it on, because it represents IBM's fall as the
>>dominant force in microcomputing.
I must take issue with your dismissal of the 8580. IBMs intro of the PS/2
line on April 2/87 with the 8580 introduced the analogue VGA standard as well
as MCA. IBMs strict and expensive liscensing for MCA which gave birth to the
VESA consortium undoubtably played a role in IBMs loss of dominance, but the 80
was a remarkable machine in itself even at $10,000 bare.
Also , quoting a newsgroup message:
"We'll note here that IBM sold 13 million PS/2 machines with
MCA and 17 million PS/2s total.
For about three years running in the early 90s the PS/2
division was the most profitable in IBM.
Loaded question: What was the most popular model of computer
of all time. Answer: PS/2. "
I think you have to blame the rise of clones and MS with the VESA
standard, internal conflict between IBM Divisions, and the OS2 failure
as being the cause of IBMs fall from pre-eminance, which has happened
over a long period of time. Which machine would signify DECs decline ?
ciao larry
lwalker_at_interlog.com
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Received on Sat Jun 19 1999 - 15:10:24 BST