IBM might have lost, yet thanks to the way computing has evolved, vertical integration has won in the end.

Going to a computer shop on a random shopping mall, usually only a few gamer PCs are available as composable desktops, 90% of computers on display are laptops.

Servers are mostly designed for companies with racks or hyperscalers.

Most non technical people nowadays only have a smartphone and a tablet as computers, with the integration of all 8 and 16 bit home computers PC compatible were fighting against.

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toast0 6 days ago | parent [-]

Apple may be vertically integrated (depending on how you figure Foxconn and TSMC), but no other machines are.

CPU from Amd/Intel, board from someone else, ram from someone else, storage from another party, OS from yet another party.

Phones are similar, maybe Samsung uses a samsung cpu, a samsung lcd, samsung ram, and samsung storage, and a Samsung build of a Google OS. More integration than Apple. Everyone else though, is still putting parts together from many suppliers.

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pjmlp 6 days ago | parent [-]

You completely missed the point, which laptops, phones or tablets can you still buy at a regular consumer shop, that are still as configurable as old time PCs?

Have you tried to build a laptop or a tablet yourself as we used to build PCs during the 1990s?

Yes we know about System 76, and similar attempts, sadly they aren't something I can find on MediaMarket, Vobis, FNAC, Saturn, Cool Blue, Carrefour,...

	▲	toast0 6 days ago \| parent [-]
		Oh sure, computers are more integrated now. But you said vertically integrated which I was addressing. Really though, when the CPU has everything you need, other than ram and storage, why do you need to have a box you can mess with? I still build my own computers, but computers at home are becoming endangered. One of my siblings simply doesn't have one, and the other only has a work computer. Many of my child's friends don't have a computer at home, unless it's a school chromebook or their parents work in tech.