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IBM PS/2
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==Sales== Overall, the PS/2 line was largely unsuccessful with the consumer market, even though the PC-based Models 30 and 25 were an attempt to address that. With what was widely seen as a technically competent but [[Cynicism (contemporary)|cynical]] attempt to gain undisputed control of the market, IBM unleashed an industry backlash, which went on to standardize VESA, EISA and PCI. In large part, IBM failed to establish a link in the consumer's mind between the PS/2 MicroChannel architecture and the immature OS/2 1.x operating system; the more capable OS/2 version 2.0 was not released until 1992.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://techland.time.com/2012/04/02/25-years-of-ibms-os2-the-birth-death-and-afterlife-of-a-legendary-operating-system/2/|title=25 Years of IBM's OS/2: The Strange Days and Surprising Afterlife of a Legendary Operating System|first=Harry|last=McCracken|magazine=Time|date=2 April 2012|via=techland.time.com|access-date=29 September 2015|archive-date=30 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150930084010/http://techland.time.com/2012/04/02/25-years-of-ibms-os2-the-birth-death-and-afterlife-of-a-legendary-operating-system/2/|url-status=live}}</ref> The firm suffered massive financial losses for the remainder of the 1980s, forfeiting its previously unquestioned position as the industry leader, and eventually lost its status as the largest manufacturer of personal computers, first to [[Compaq]] and then to [[Dell]]. From a high of 10,000 employees in Boca Raton before the PS/2 came out, only seven years later, IBM had $600 million in unsold inventory and was laying off staff by the thousands.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bocahistory.org/our-history-ibm/|title=IBM in Boca Raton | First Personal Computer | Companies in Boca Raton|access-date=2017-11-03|archive-date=2017-11-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107023344/http://www.bocahistory.org/our-history-ibm/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Vijayan |first=Jaikumar |date=August 1, 1994 |title=IBM cuts PC force, kills Ambra Corp. |volume=28 |pages=4 |work=Computerworld |issue=31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mEU4Qex5594C&pg=PA4 |access-date=August 7, 2022 |archive-date=November 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231109224854/https://books.google.com/books?id=mEU4Qex5594C&pg=PA4#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> After the failure of the PS/2 line to establish a new standard, IBM was forced to revert to building ISA PCs—following the industry it had once led—with the low-end [[IBM PS/1|PS/1]] line and later with the more compatible [[IBM Aptiva|Aptiva]] and [[IBM PS/ValuePoint|PS/ValuePoint]] lines. Still, the PS/2 platform experienced some success in the corporate sector where the reliability, ease of maintenance and strong corporate support from IBM offset the rather daunting cost of the machines. Also, many people still lived with the motto "[[Nobody ever got fired for buying an IBM]]". In the mid-range desktop market, the models 55SX and later 56SX were the leading sellers for almost their entire lifetimes.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}} Later PS/2 models saw a production life span that took them into the late 1990s, within a few years of IBM selling off the division.
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