Did you know that the IBM PC was not originally designed around the i8088? Various sources conflict somewhat (including offline sources such as “Blue Magic: The People, Power and Politics Behind the IBM Personal Computer“), but the general consensus is that early 5150 designs considered CPUs that were both less powerful (such as the MOS 6502 and Zilog Z80) and also more powerful (such as IBM’s POWER predecessor 801, or the Motorola 68000 CPU).
I find this fascinating to daydream about sometimes. What if the IBM PC had not been built around the 8088? How would have the personal computer industry progressed in the 1980s? Who would the leader(s) be today?
Oldskooler Ramblings 