AHC: multiple computer suppliers

JoeMulk

Banned
How could you get a timeline where there are multiple computer suppliers other then Apple and Microsoft, perhaps a different national computer company in every country?
 
Oh, what a horrid dystopia…

I suppose it could be done fairly easily, uh… assume that other countries deny American software imports for reasons of security or whatever else and then they'd have to create their own OS' for their computer networks…
 
There are dozens of computer suppliers. They exist as a semi-formal cartel for a reason: they build to the same specifications with interoperability in mind because the market dynamics made that the best choice.
 

BlondieBC

Banned
Simple, the need to be viewed as a strategic military asset, so large powers will protect their domestic industry the way tank production was protected. So for example, Apple and Microsoft are the USA. China at some points limits imports of computers using these companies' software. At some point in time, imports are banned. Now repeat for Russia, India, etc.
 

JoeMulk

Banned
Simple, the need to be viewed as a strategic military asset, so large powers will protect their domestic industry the way tank production was protected. So for example, Apple and Microsoft are the USA. China at some points limits imports of computers using these companies' software. At some point in time, imports are banned. Now repeat for Russia, India, etc.

Maybe a computer manufacturing base is propped up in Silicon Valley then.
 

BlondieBC

Banned
Maybe a computer manufacturing base is propped up in Silicon Valley then.

Yes, once the protectionist trend starts, the USA will also follow. I can easily see a TL where Americans can only buy computers 100% American made (well, NATO made).
 
Seeing as computers can easily be considered dual use technology simply have the US decide fairly early on to slap highly restrictive export controls on them this pretty much makes it inevitable that other manufactures will arise.
 
Keep the eastern block going and you will definitely see a different architecture (and likely a parallel internet....) there.
Some butterflies in Britain and perhaps RISCOS/ARC could continue to do well in desktops. Or AmigaOS.

In Japan/China if the problem of language support could be cracked earlier, by native companies (they will have more of an interest in that) you could very easily see different systems arrise there. Even today with standard Microsoft OS they tend to design things according to very differnet norms.
 
How could you get a timeline where there are multiple computer suppliers other then Apple and Microsoft, perhaps a different national computer company in every country?

What time period are you talking about? There were dozens of computer suppliers in the UK alone in the 80's.

Simplest way is for IBM not to endorce the PC and use its power and reputation to close off the other options.
 
It is probably more about economics than anything else.

Any country had several suppliers and manufacturers in the 70's and 80's. Even today, ther are plenty of suppliers at local country level.

I even met a person who sold Soviet-manufactured IBM-compatible mainframes to clients in Finland and Sweden (!). He was, btw, a former officer in KGB (it was still in the 80's).

South Africa and sanctions made it a viable industry to manufacture a lot of things, because the economy could and had to accommodate the higher costs!

Now, IBM sold off the PC line to China, isn't it?

CPU? You can buy more than just Intel and AMD

It sort of follows the cycle of product development: New technology (paradigm shift): loads of start-ups and suppliers and all kind of inventions.

Standards emerging: Fewer suppluiers as it starts to be costly to adhere to standards and pricing going down

Solid state: Few suppliers

Next Paradigm coming around and we start again.

PS: Look at mainframes from the 70's/80's:

ICL mainframes (oh yes! with municipal billing)
NCR mainframes
Bull Mainframes
Burroughs
Univac
DEC (debatable, but I think so)


Operating systems for PDP-11:
RSX-11M
RSX-11M+
Ultrix
RT-11
etc etc

from other people:
Believe it or not: In another univers (30+ years back) I even wrote an operating system for PDP-11, becuase we were unhappy with RSX-11M (Jeez!)

Ivan




 
Linux would take off, each country could have their own distro. Just imaging Microshaft or fruit making a diffrent OS for each country, they wont do it.
docfl
 
Keep the eastern block going and you will definitely see a different architecture (and likely a parallel internet....) there.
Some butterflies in Britain and perhaps RISCOS/ARC could continue to do well in desktops. Or AmigaOS.

In Japan/China if the problem of language support could be cracked earlier, by native companies (they will have more of an interest in that) you could very easily see different systems arrise there. Even today with standard Microsoft OS they tend to design things according to very differnet norms.


That sounds interesting!

Especially if with Japan it becomes even more exotic for "westerners" to attempt to access the very distinctive Japanese culture on Japan's internet equivalent.

A British operating system would take hold nicely in British commonwealth countries, not to mention with British expatriate communities and/or countries that are not necessarily English-speaking but nonetheless at least culturally Anglophile... The British system could end up centered in Britain and reaching to the other side of the globe with Singapore, Hong Kong, India, Australia, New Zealand, and, hmm, maybe Canada somehow gets a bit "nationalistic" and joins this affiliation as well?

(When HK returns to China, HK will still have a substantial number of computer-owners not about to let go of their British OS, and there could be some potential friction.)

Canada could be a fun place for Americans to go and get British-OS computers to try and connect with the British internet equivalent.

Canada could end up with at least three different operating systems: The British one, the American OS (proximity, economic and social interest), and a Quebecois OS affiliated with France's OS. :)

Israel would be an interesting place, probably with afficionadoes of American systems (both Microsoft and Apple; who else but America would have two computer operating systems?) and British as well as perhaps their own indigenous Hebrew-language OS aimed at education on one level and at security with affiliated research and development at another.



Edit: Persia-Wank! Iranian programmers and software/hardware developers start up a Farsi operating system, and, with the patriotic government pushing the OS through schools at all levels, hey presto, Iran gets computerized on a deeper and wider level... High-tech Iran, etc.
 
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This has long been an interesting AH topic for me since I'm a bit of a computer junkie myself.

One thing I'd like to suggest is perhaps some earlier anti-trust and/or anti-monopoly legislation. Maybe this would better help smaller OSes like Amiga survive in somewhat better shape while hopefully not causing any real harm to Microsoft or Apple(while motivating them, particularly the former, to build better OSes. Windows, IOTL, often had a LOT of bugs, especially Win 98 & ME.).

I can also some European and Japanese companies being more successful than they were OTL, when Windows & MacOS pretty much dominated the market by 2000 or so.

As for the Internet? Apologies to ModelCitizen, but there's only going to be one. Sure, some national sub-systems may spring up here and there, especially perhaps in the early years of computing, but ultimately, these would all be overshadowed by the World Wide Web whenever it rolls around.
 
How could you get a timeline where there are multiple computer suppliers other then Apple and Microsoft, perhaps a different national computer company in every country?
Only works if those national companies are subsidised, because apart from Apple-Mac and Microsoft, there were once multiple supplier, but their utterly rubbishy business plans sank them.
 
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