imac - $ to £ this sucks..

[snaw]

X86 survived because it was much fecking cheaper. End of.

Chicken and egg, the rest came because it was the most dominent. It was dominent because of cost, not because it was best (I dunno from a programming perspective but in every other way Apple kicked arse way back when).

[AtW]

Yes and backwards compatibility that was non-existant before x86 was also not important?

But anyway: WHAT EXACTLY in x86 has played most important role in achieving superiority can be debated, but one fact can't: x86 has proven to be superior architecture - the most important test: test of time, shown that it is superior.

[Addanc]

But anyway: WHAT EXACTLY in x86 has played most important role in achieving superiority ...

No debate, original IBM PC, as I pointed out had Motorola got to market earlier with 68K the x86 would have disappeared many years ago.

[AtW]

And you do know that Apple Computers were released before IBM PC? In effect Motorola had lead plenty of time in fight with x86.

[Addanc]

And you do know that Apple Computers were released before IBM PC? In effect Motorola had lead plenty of time in fight with x86.

The original Apple had a 65?? in them. Original IBM PC= 8088=16 bit internal/8 bit bus. 68K=32 bit internal/? bit bus. I wonder which one IBM would have chosen for the PC if both had been available?

[AtW]

Look it's like this: get out of your techie box and consider that Apple was released and use Motorola stuff well before IBM PC was out, they had the chance to build much bigger library of software yet they did not, failing utterly and now having to move to superior x86 architecture.

Good thing too - Macs have always been a rip off, at least Microsoft does not control hardware that is being produced so you have a choice not to use Windows.

[Addanc]

It were the Cloners that made the IBM PC popular (cheaper and therefore more accessible to the average punter). Has anybody successfully got an apple clone to market? Commodore keeping a tight-rein on the hardware and firmware killed off the Amiga (expensive). Apple nearly went belly-up at one point.

[AtW]

Cost of a processor architecture is one of determining elements of its superiority: Itanic might be superior in terms of how it was designed but high price and lack of backwards compatibility killed it.

[TheOmegaMan]

Why should I give a flying fck whether you think one architecture is better than another AtW ? Have your got some credentials that make your opinion worth reading ?

[Back In Business]

IMO if the ipod didn't save the day Apple would be on the skids by now.