I remember when “It’s 100% IBM-Compatible” was the gold standard by which PCs were judged. Sure, you could get things that were mostly compatible with authentic IBM PC hardware — but that little incompatibility could getcha if you didn’t watch out. Indeed, it was that 100% compatibility that made Compaq the industry leader it became.<\/p>\n
Which is why (aside from their being our current corporate standard) the news that IBM is getting<\/a> out<\/a> of the PC business (desktop and laptop) is such a sign of the changing times, an indication of how commoditized PCs have become, with margins so slender that the value-addeds of the IBM name and design don’t warrant their staying in the biz (which they currently only own 5.6% of anyway).<\/p>\n That one of the two major bidders is thought to be a Chinese company may also be a sign of the changing times …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I remember when “It’s 100% IBM-Compatible” was the gold standard by which PCs were judged. Sure, you could get things that were mostly compatible with authentic IBM PC hardware –…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hi-tech"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5865,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/07\/08\/anti_standards.html","url_meta":{"origin":6912,"position":0},"title":"Anti-standards","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 8-Jul-04 12:05pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Because it's not the Barbies that cost you the big bucks -- it's the accessories ... Manufacturers of high-tech devices love selling high-tech consumables and accessories to go along with...","rel":"","context":"In "Hi-Tech"","block_context":{"text":"Hi-Tech","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/hi-tech"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":128818,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/11\/15\/rip-gene-amdahl.html","url_meta":{"origin":6912,"position":1},"title":"RIP, Gene Amdahl","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 15-Nov-15 5:39pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The first place I worked out of college, we used Amdahl mainframes in place of IBM versions. We had to license the IBM OS (both MVS and VM), and then patch it with Amdahl fixes to work on their machines. It was a bother, but the Amdahls were a lot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7386,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/03\/16\/fubar_pc_update.html","url_meta":{"origin":6912,"position":2},"title":"Fubar PC update","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 16-Mar-05 3:52pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Our procurement liaison with IBM has been working our IBM rep to do something. I wrote a firm, civil, politely threatening e-mail to same, indicating what level of service I...","rel":"","context":"In "My Computer"","block_context":{"text":"My Computer","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/my-computer"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7419,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/03\/10\/dead_backlighti.html","url_meta":{"origin":6912,"position":3},"title":"Dead Backlighting Update","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 10-Mar-05 2:19pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, the backlighting on the Thinkpad is still dead. That's the short form. Long form is this: I've got an old 14\" monitor set up on the breakfast table at...","rel":"","context":"In "My Computer"","block_context":{"text":"My Computer","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/my-computer"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10335,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/02\/14\/to_thee_we_sing_with_our.html","url_meta":{"origin":6912,"position":4},"title":"“To thee we sing with our PCs on WiFi …”","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 14-Feb-07 1:30pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Pomona College (my alma mater) made the Top 20 list for PC Magazine's evaluation of \"Most Wired Colleges.\" Back in the day, we were (for a liberal arts place) pretty...","rel":"","context":"In "Hi-Tech"","block_context":{"text":"Hi-Tech","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/hi-tech"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7365,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/03\/22\/and_more_on_the.html","url_meta":{"origin":6912,"position":5},"title":"And more on the fubar PC front","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 22-Mar-05 12:25pm","format":false,"excerpt":"After yet another noodge, a new fellow from IBM contacted me to get information about the replacement. 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