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The story of MSX computers in 1984

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  The story of MSX computers in 1984 RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-03-11 15:36 +0000
    Re: The story of MSX computers in 1984 Oregonian Haruspex <bob_davis_retired@yahoo.com> - 2014-03-11 13:37 -0700
      Re: The story of MSX computers in 1984 Koen Lefever <koen.lefever@gmail.com> - 2014-03-11 22:56 +0000
        Re: The story of MSX computers in 1984 Oregonian Haruspex <bob_davis_retired@yahoo.com> - 2014-03-11 16:56 -0700
          Re: The story of MSX computers in 1984 Roger Blake <rogblake@iname.invalid> - 2014-03-12 02:33 +0000
            Re: The story of MSX computers in 1984 Oregonian Haruspex <bob_davis_retired@yahoo.com> - 2014-03-11 23:05 -0700

#1463 — The story of MSX computers in 1984

From the 'If it's got an X in the name it's cool' department:

http://www.dvorak.org/blog/whatever-happened-to-msx-computers/

Not too many people will recall the short-lived era of the “MSX”
initiative which was slated to pretty much take over the non-existent
middle world where consumer electronics met personal computers. It was
always believed, back then, that this is where the sweet spot of
profits would emerge. What emerged was instead laughable MSX. It was
one of Microsoft’s greatest flops.

... [major snippage] ...

In February of 1990 one of the last hold outs for MSX, Sony
Corporation, gave up on supporting MSX and moved into production of AX
computers (another dead-end) and mini-notebook machines. Only Panasonic
continued to make an MSX-II Turbo machine. Sanyo also stayed in the
consortium to no avail

The story of MSX – if it is ever remembered — might eventually be a
Harvard Business School case study. The entire episode proves that
popularizing a new standard is not a trivial pursuit."



-- 
RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com>

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#1482

On 2014-03-11 15:36:51 +0000, RS Wood said:

> From the 'If it's got an X in the name it's cool' department:
> 
> http://www.dvorak.org/blog/whatever-happened-to-msx-computers/
> 
> Not too many people will recall the short-lived era of the “MSX”
> initiative which was slated to pretty much take over the non-existent
> middle world where consumer electronics met personal computers. It was
> always believed, back then, that this is where the sweet spot of
> profits would emerge. What emerged was instead laughable MSX. It was
> one of Microsoft’s greatest flops.
> 
> ... [major snippage] ...
> 
> In February of 1990 one of the last hold outs for MSX, Sony
> Corporation, gave up on supporting MSX and moved into production of AX
> computers (another dead-end) and mini-notebook machines. Only Panasonic
> continued to make an MSX-II Turbo machine. Sanyo also stayed in the
> consortium to no avail
> 
> The story of MSX – if it is ever remembered — might eventually be a
> Harvard Business School case study. The entire episode proves that
> popularizing a new standard is not a trivial pursuit."

While MSX machines were very rare stateside, they were probably the 
most popular platform in Japan for about a decade.  The problem that 
MSX faced here in the USA was that Microsoft was pushing DOS for 
everything, and even finding an advertisement for MSX in the USA is 
difficult.

Back then there were several competing computer platforms in Japan 
which were almost never seen stateside - MSX, Sharp's X1 and later 
X68000, the Fujitsu Fm series, and the NEC PC-8801s.  They are sought 
by collectors these days, not only for the rarity of the hardware but 
also because these platforms had many many games.

I have to say, as usual, that Dvorak missed the point.  MSX failed in 
the USA and Canada, but it made a lot of companies a lot of money in 
Japan and Brazil.

He can't be blamed entirely for his journalistic error, though.  Most 
people are not aware of the variety of Japanese home computers because 
they never had a chance to see them.

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#1489

On Tue, 11 Mar 2014 13:37:54 -0700, Oregonian Haruspex wrote:

> On 2014-03-11 15:36:51 +0000, RS Wood said:
> 
>> From the 'If it's got an X in the name it's cool' department:
>> 
>> http://www.dvorak.org/blog/whatever-happened-to-msx-computers/
>> 
>> Not too many people will recall the short-lived era of the 
“MSX”
>> initiative which was slated to pretty much take over the non-existent
>> middle world where consumer electronics met personal computers. It was
>> always believed, back then, that this is where the sweet spot of
>> profits would emerge. What emerged was instead laughable MSX. It was
>> one of Microsoft’s greatest flops.
>> 
>> ... [major snippage] ...
>> 
>> In February of 1990 one of the last hold outs for MSX, Sony
>> Corporation, gave up on supporting MSX and moved into production of AX
>> computers (another dead-end) and mini-notebook machines. Only Panasonic
>> continued to make an MSX-II Turbo machine. Sanyo also stayed in the
>> consortium to no avail
>> 
>> The story of MSX – if it is ever remembered — might eventually 
be a
>> Harvard Business School case study. The entire episode proves that
>> popularizing a new standard is not a trivial pursuit."
> 
> While MSX machines were very rare stateside, they were probably the most
> popular platform in Japan for about a decade.  The problem that MSX
> faced here in the USA was that Microsoft was pushing DOS for everything,
> and even finding an advertisement for MSX in the USA is difficult.
> 
> Back then there were several competing computer platforms in Japan which
> were almost never seen stateside - MSX, Sharp's X1 and later X68000, the
> Fujitsu Fm series, and the NEC PC-8801s.  They are sought by collectors
> these days, not only for the rarity of the hardware but also because
> these platforms had many many games.
> 
> I have to say, as usual, that Dvorak missed the point.  MSX failed in
> the USA and Canada, but it made a lot of companies a lot of money in
> Japan and Brazil.
> 
> He can't be blamed entirely for his journalistic error, though.  Most
> people are not aware of the variety of Japanese home computers because
> they never had a chance to see them.

In Europe, MSX had some limited success for a very short period due to 
the Philips VG-8000 series:

http://www.msx.org/wiki/Category:Philips

In 1984, a Z80A computer was too little too late. Commodore 64 was still 
going strong in the 8-bit segment. Some IBM-PC clones, notably the Sanyo 
MBC-550 and some "White PCs" (machines without a brand), were already 
affordable to home users. A year later in 1985, the Atari ST and the 
Commodore Amiga brought M68000 power in reach for home users and killed 
the MSX market.

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#1491

On 2014-03-11 22:56:04 +0000, Koen Lefever said:

> On Tue, 11 Mar 2014 13:37:54 -0700, Oregonian Haruspex wrote:
> 
>> On 2014-03-11 15:36:51 +0000, RS Wood said:
>> 
>>> From the 'If it's got an X in the name it's cool' department:
>>> 
>>> http://www.dvorak.org/blog/whatever-happened-to-msx-computers/
>>> 
>>> Not too many people will recall the short-lived era of the
> “MSX”
>>> initiative which was slated to pretty much take over the non-existent
>>> middle world where consumer electronics met personal computers. It was
>>> always believed, back then, that this is where the sweet spot of
>>> profits would emerge. What emerged was instead laughable MSX. It was
>>> one of Microsoft’s greatest flops.
>>> 
>>> ... [major snippage] ...
>>> 
>>> In February of 1990 one of the last hold outs for MSX, Sony
>>> Corporation, gave up on supporting MSX and moved into production of AX
>>> computers (another dead-end) and mini-notebook machines. Only Panasonic
>>> continued to make an MSX-II Turbo machine. Sanyo also stayed in the
>>> consortium to no avail
>>> 
>>> The story of MSX – if it is ever remembered — might eventually
> be a
>>> Harvard Business School case study. The entire episode proves that
>>> popularizing a new standard is not a trivial pursuit."
>> 
>> While MSX machines were very rare stateside, they were probably the most
>> popular platform in Japan for about a decade.  The problem that MSX
>> faced here in the USA was that Microsoft was pushing DOS for everything,
>> and even finding an advertisement for MSX in the USA is difficult.
>> 
>> Back then there were several competing computer platforms in Japan which
>> were almost never seen stateside - MSX, Sharp's X1 and later X68000, the
>> Fujitsu Fm series, and the NEC PC-8801s.  They are sought by collectors
>> these days, not only for the rarity of the hardware but also because
>> these platforms had many many games.
>> 
>> I have to say, as usual, that Dvorak missed the point.  MSX failed in
>> the USA and Canada, but it made a lot of companies a lot of money in
>> Japan and Brazil.
>> 
>> He can't be blamed entirely for his journalistic error, though.  Most
>> people are not aware of the variety of Japanese home computers because
>> they never had a chance to see them.
> 
> In Europe, MSX had some limited success for a very short period due to
> the Philips VG-8000 series:
> 
> http://www.msx.org/wiki/Category:Philips
> 
> In 1984, a Z80A computer was too little too late. Commodore 64 was still
> going strong in the 8-bit segment. Some IBM-PC clones, notably the Sanyo
> MBC-550 and some "White PCs" (machines without a brand), were already
> affordable to home users. A year later in 1985, the Atari ST and the
> Commodore Amiga brought M68000 power in reach for home users and killed
> the MSX market.

It's interesting that the Amiga and ST never made much headway in the 
states.  I only knew one person with an Amiga back in those days, and I 
have still never seen an ST in real life.  Almost everybody I knew had 
a Commodore 64, an Apple II of some flavor, some type of IBM or clone, 
or a Macintosh.  I went to a special magnet middle school for computers 
and technology so my peers were all pretty computer-savvy and so were 
their parents.

I do agree that, in the USA and perhaps Europe, a Z80 was a bit wimpy 
for the time frame (certainly by the late 80s) but in Japan these MSX 
boxes seem to have been the predominant computer, with Microsoft's 
DOS/V struggling to catch on even after the MSX was almost a decade old.

Let's not even get into the sad demise of the British computers of the 80s!

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#1496

On 2014-03-11, Oregonian Haruspex <bob_davis_retired@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Let's not even get into the sad demise of the British computers of the 80s!

Or for that matter, the British computers of the early 1950s:

  http://www.kzwp.com/lyons/leo.htm
  http://www.leo-computers.org.uk

(Yes, Virginia, the world's first business computer was built by a British
catering company!)

The Brits were well ahead in the computer game early on but unfortunately
in the end were unable to stay competitive.

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Roger Blake (Change "invalid" to "com" for email. Google Groups killfiled.)

  NSA sedition and treason -- http://www.DeathToNSAthugs.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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#1501

On 2014-03-12 02:33:09 +0000, Roger Blake said:

> On 2014-03-11, Oregonian Haruspex <bob_davis_retired@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Let's not even get into the sad demise of the British computers of the 80s!
> 
> Or for that matter, the British computers of the early 1950s:
> 
>   http://www.kzwp.com/lyons/leo.htm
>   http://www.leo-computers.org.uk
> 
> (Yes, Virginia, the world's first business computer was built by a British
> catering company!)
> 
> The Brits were well ahead in the computer game early on but unfortunately
> in the end were unable to stay competitive.

It didn't help that the British government and especially the MoD kept 
buying American computers.

One of my favorite video games, Elite, came out on the BBC Micro.  Of 
course, I played it on a different platform, having never seen a BBC 
Micro in real life.

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