Comments on: How many IBM PCs were sold https://dfarq.homeip.net/how-many-ibm-pcs-sold/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-many-ibm-pcs-sold David L. Farquhar on technology old and new, computer security, and more Sat, 15 Aug 2026 17:01:09 +0000 hourly 1 By: S.M. Oliva https://dfarq.homeip.net/how-many-ibm-pcs-sold/#comment-56480 Mon, 13 May 2024 15:16:34 +0000 https://dfarq.homeip.net/?p=34922#comment-56480 I suspect one reason the “steamrolling” narrative gained traction was that when it came to software, the business market dwarfed the home market in terms of sheer sales volume. And most of the profitable business software was on the PC.

Think of it this way. By the late 1980s, the biggest home software companies were Activision, Sierra Online, Broderbund, and Electronic Arts. The biggest business software companies were Ashton-Tate, WordPerfect International, Lotus Development, and Microsoft. The revenues of the latter “steamrolled” those of the former by some order of magnitude.

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