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When did we stop saying "IBM compatible"?


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Just as we no longer say "Winchester drives", when did the world stop saying "ibm compatible" computer when referring to it? The industry, in regards to say what the platform is for(ie not Mac), they just say the more vague "PC". A Mac is a "PC", a Linux system is a "PC".

 

Inquiring minds want to know.

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I was hearing it as late as 2001 from computer newbies, but didn't hear it in regular conversation after about 1997. During my tenure selling computers (2003-2007) I heard the term maybe three times.

 

One thing that is still around is the mangled expression "compatible to" as in "Would this computer be compatible to that printer?" Every time I heard it, I wanted to scream. There is "compatible with" and "comparable to", but there is no "compatible to". Just like the "IBM" part of "IBM Compatible", people say the words without having any idea what they mean.

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Just as we no longer say "Winchester drives", when did the world stop saying "ibm compatible" computer when referring to it? The industry, in regards to say what the platform is for(ie not Mac), they just say the more vague "PC". A Mac is a "PC", a Linux system is a "PC".

 

Inquiring minds want to know.

 

 

I agree we call them pc's but Mac's are called "Mac's" not PC's.

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It would be especially weird to use the term "IBM Compatible" today as that IBM stopped making personal computers in 2005!
Actually, I'm pretty sure IBM still makes normal PCs. You just don't see them as much these days.

 

I was surprised as well, but according to their site what IBM sells new are servers and serious rackmount and freestanding machines. They sold their laptop division to an Asian company (Lenova) and are still selling refurbished PCs that are IBM-branded. No new IBM personal computers however. Strange but true.

Edited by Kripto
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Just as we no longer say "Winchester drives", when did the world stop saying "ibm compatible" computer when referring to it? The industry, in regards to say what the platform is for(ie not Mac), they just say the more vague "PC". A Mac is a "PC", a Linux system is a "PC".

 

Inquiring minds want to know.

It's funny that you ask this...I was just thinking about this a few days ago.

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This is a very interesting topic, because yes, all "DOS PCs" were referred to collectively as "IBMs". It was just the way things were. For example, I moved up from the Apple II to the "IBM". It wasn't an actual PC made by IBM, it was a clone - but we didn't refer to it as a clone, in those days.

 

The computer games software, too - it was "IBM" or "IBM COMPATIBLE" listed on the box, and games that were ported to the DOS PC from other systems were often credited as "IBM VERSION BY [programmer name]".

 

This made perfect sense, because all "personal computers" are "PCs", and there were a TON of different personal computers on the market, that all ran different operating systems and software, throughout the 80's and early-to-mid 90's. Once the other, different computers died out and disappeared, and the only real unique models left were Macintosh and "IBM PC", there was really no need to refer to the PCs as "IBMs" anymore, so the term died out.

 

Honestly, no one in the PC scene thought anything wrong with the "IBM" term to group all DOS PCs together, collectively. But it did eventually start to die out, toward the late 90's, in favor of just "PC" or "Windows PC" (ack!).

 

Looking back on it now, and remembering those days fondly, I now find it silly that we referred to all DOS PCs as "IBMs", but the utter generic "PC" designation prompted us to. And I'll still call a DOS PC an "IBM" now, though it's very rare, if I'm talking with someone who was there, at the time, like an old friend or another scene person. Just nostalgic that way, I guess.

Edited by Clean Larry
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I remember that time where we could find some machine 90% IBM Compatible , 85% IBM Compatible , mine what sold for 99% IBM Compatible.

 

Some have also a "turbo" button to double the clock speed.

 

I remember on mine , i had a turbo switch to speed up the machine to 10Mhz instead of the 4,77Mhz !. Most of the game becommed unplayable because too fast!!.

 

I think the term "IBM Compatible" started to slow down when IBM stopped to release "PC" to concentrate on "PS" (PS/2 , PS/1) . That was not possible (legally) to product clone for PS serie. We never had PS compatible...

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seemed like for most customers 92-93.

 

I'll agree with this. Once IBM went to the PS/2 series computers with the new MicroChannel Architecture, the rest of the market ignored them and continued on its merry way with "PC compatibles" instead of "IBM compatibles." However we did get VGA out of the deal, which was the most important thing (IMHO) in building up the PC as a gaming machine.

Edited by monzamess
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seemed like for most customers 92-93.

 

I'll agree with this. Once IBM went to the PS/2 series computers with the new MicroChannel Architecture, the rest of the market ignored them and continued on its merry way with "PC compatibles" instead of "IBM compatibles." However we did get VGA out of the deal, which was the most important thing (IMHO) in building up the PC as a gaming machine.

 

The IBM PS/2 was like that weird car Homer Simpson designed. Yeah, let's make the keyboard & mouse connectors exactly the same! It's not like colorblind people hook 'em up anyways. Its legacy lives on when we can confuse the term "IBM PS/2" and "Playstation 2".

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I was hearing it as late as 2001 from computer newbies, but didn't hear it in regular conversation after about 1997. During my tenure selling computers (2003-2007) I heard the term maybe three times.

 

One thing that is still around is the mangled expression "compatible to" as in "Would this computer be compatible to that printer?" Every time I heard it, I wanted to scream. There is "compatible with" and "comparable to", but there is no "compatible to". Just like the "IBM" part of "IBM Compatible", people say the words without having any idea what they mean.

Stuff like that bugs me, too. I always read posts with people saying they "should of" bought something, or telling someone "your being rude." Also annoying are posts regarding current owners/proprietors of the Atari name, mentioning how "their wasting there property," etc.

 

Ah well, maybe the minority of us who actually know how to spell, write and speak should just jump down the chim-a-nee of a nuke-you-lar power plant and off areselves. Prob-uh-lee would of been a good idea.

 

Words with more than two syllables and homonyms are tough. You have to be smarter than a monkey to use them correctly.

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Probably cause IBM was at one time the premier maker of computers (everything else was a ripoff of IBM, such as Tandy, one of the bigger IBM compats out there).

 

When IBM got out of the consumer market, IBM compatible died along with it. (yes, they are still around, but I don't consider servers and business computers as consumer :P )

 

It's kind of the same thing as when everybody used to use Atari interchangeably with Video game, and once they were no longer the mainstream, they were nolonger the same thing as videogame.

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seemed like for most customers 92-93.

 

I'll agree with this. Once IBM went to the PS/2 series computers with the new MicroChannel Architecture, the rest of the market ignored them and continued on its merry way with "PC compatibles" instead of "IBM compatibles." However we did get VGA out of the deal, which was the most important thing (IMHO) in building up the PC as a gaming machine.

 

The IBM PS/2 was like that weird car Homer Simpson designed. Yeah, let's make the keyboard & mouse connectors exactly the same! It's not like colorblind people hook 'em up anyways. Its legacy lives on when we can confuse the term "IBM PS/2" and "Playstation 2".

Weird stuff for sure. Like when clone 1st started.

I used to have a Columbia PC here, I think it was the original IBM clone. The rumor was that was the 1st or one of the 1st clones. I never sold them back in the day but I'll bet it was fun explaining to the public that it was an "IBM compatible" since the concept was brand new. Kind of like when we did sell Franklin Apple clones. It was a hard sale..

 

Here is the Wiki on the columbia PC

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Data_Products

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