You are right. We are lucky. A company like Digital could have made the PDP-11 into 'the PC' and lock it down from the beginning. IBM could have done the same if they had not been so incompetent. In such a case you would have Intel, IBM and Microsoft being a single organization that would have become to powerful.

We still had plenty of issue with Intel and Microsoft being able to play out their monopoly.

So I think it could have been a lot worse, but it could also have been a lot better.

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musicale 2 days ago | parent [-]

> A company like Digital could have made the PDP-11 into 'the PC'

They did! I kind of want one of these PDP-11 based PCs:

1977: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathkit_H11

1982: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEC_Professional

	▲	panick21_ 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		I know of course, I'm love DEC history. But of course DEC Professional wasn't full compatible and cost far to much to be a Personal Computer. They closed down the bus also. It was more designed as Professional work station. And of course the famously released it with Rainbow and Decmade II. DEC had already lost by then. Heathkit H11 was an opportunity but of course never followed up with.