commit 02bcfddebefd9cccaf55d433fdf4e26ab834524d
parent e5ee5f934a3bea66eaecf01174c91869b6cf277a
Author: Ville-Matias Heikkila <viznut@low.fi>
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2022 14:11:01 +0300
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+**IBM PC** is a computer released in 1981 by IBM, as well as an entire
+series of computers compatible with it. It is still the dominant computer
+platform in desktops, laptops and servers, even though (and maybe because)
+IBM lost its grip of it by the 1990s. Modern x86 processors remain
+software-compatible with the Intel 8088 processor of the original IBM PC,
+even though it is no longer possible to run all the software natively. The
+operating system of the original IBM PC was Microsoft's [[DOS]] (PC-DOS,
+MS-DOS) which was surpassed in popularity by Microsoft [[Windows]] in the
+1990s.
+
+The ubiquity of IBM PC compatibles as well as the lack of a single
+corporation that controls the platform makes it a good candidate for a
+[[bedrock platform]].
+
+The **Wintel** platform (consisting of IBM PC compatible hardware and a
+Windows operating system) represented a technological [[monoculture]]
+especially in the early 2000s, when non-x86 computers had been marginalized,
+ARM-based mobile computers were not yet common, and most applications
+weren't yet being targeted for [[web browser]]s.
+
+Sometimes, "PC" is used as a shorthand for "IBM PC compatible", while
+sometimes it refers to a "personal computer" in general. This may lead to
+misunderstandings and misconceptions, such as regarding the original IBM PC
+more revolutionary than it actually was in the early years.
