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|} Okay, whaddaya call a computer that runs DOS and/or Windows?
|} "IBM/compatible computer" can become awfully cumbersome -- plus,
|} so many *aren't* IBMs anymore; "personal computer," to me, also
|} means Macintoshes; "DOS-based" leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
What you call them really depends on just how precise you have to be.
If you just want to refer to them generically as a lump (oops, are
my prejudices showing again?) the term PC has come to be a common
abbreviation for DOS boxes, mostly because the ``nonPC personal
computers'' are reffered to by brand because they have proprietary
operating systems, ie. Amiga, Macintosh, etc. You could get away
with ``x86 based PCs'' if you really want a more descriptive generic
that doesn't involve a (TM) somewhere.
If you have to tell people which platforms your software runs on,
you have to get real specific. ``IBM PCs and 100% compatibles with
'386 or better, DOS 5.0 or better, with at least 4MB RAM...'' and
so on and so forth. We use the ``IBM and 100% compatibles...'' tag
line as a CYA thing for intuitively obvious reasons.
Standards aren't.
_______________ _____
/ ___ __/__\ \ / / _\ Steve Fouts
/___ \| | ___\ | / __\ sfouts -at- ellison -dot- sc -dot- ti -dot- com
/ / \ | \ / \
/_______/__|_______\_/________\ "She understood, as he did, that all writing
was infernally boring and futile, but that it had to be done out of respect
for tradition" --Stanislaw Lem
