Compaq's cleanroom BIOS breakthrough

Today, I want to share with you the story of the first PC clones and how they cemented the rise of the x86 chipset.

Most of this story takes place between 1981 and 1984, but I think it's fair to say that these 3 years are some of the most influential for the PC's rise to domination. So lets start the story with a discussion of the IBM PC, how it was special, and then examine how reverse engineering it lead to the current x86 monoculture we see today.