#A2200
John,
I sometimes think that people are destined to never learn…
Micros**t and Intel took over the computer world with an inadequate,
complicated hardware design running a 16-bit version of CP/M. How? Because
they had visibility, and they had a design that anyone could build.
Apple was sole source on the Macintosh, and with advertising and
visibility far beyond anything from Commodore, topped out at 12% of the
market.
The Amiga topped out at about 3% of the market; IBM with its Microchannel
topped out at about 5%.
Sole source doesn't work very well anymore. That is what will kill "the"
PowerPC-the fact that there are two very different "the Power PC"'s each
available from exactly one vendor. Computer chips are commodities, and to
attain significant market share, the system built around it must become a
commodity also. So license the design, and then sell manufacturing
licences to just about anyone.
Tab Trepagnier
Cruising on AutoPilot from Beaumont, Texas