PC design: Architecture: Trading off technical innovation against the dependability of established standards is a principal consideration for PC designers

Before the IBM Corp. unveiled the PCjr in 1983, computer industry observers predicted that the new machine would take the home market by storm, its older sibling, the IBM PC, had grown from nothing to more than half the business market in the preceding two years, and sales in the millions were predicted for the diminutive “Peanut.” But in 1985, when IBM halted production, perhaps 200 000 PCjrs had been sold. Since then, another several hundred thousand have been sold at fire-sale prices.