At 04:07 PM 12/5/2004, you wrote:
>Alan: forget the architecture and think of the externalities --
>namely, standardization. (Or would you rather live in a world
>where CP/M-style incompatability reigned unchallenged?)

How is the PC as we got it much different from CP/M-style
incompatibility? :-)

>I'll grant you that an IBM PC design that came out a year later
>and used the 68000, VMEbus, and Xenix would have been one whole
>lot nicer. But it would also have cost too much to compete with
>the offerings from companies like ACT (remember them?) or
>Apricot (in the UK). A good idea? You be the judge ...

Various manufacturers did release many machines in the 80's that
were effectively what you describe, a 68K and some form of Unix,
and you're right, they were all way too expensive.