Editing IBM PCjr (section)

====Compatibility====
By early 1984, PC compatibility was vital for any new, non-Apple computer's success.<ref name="clapp19840227">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gy4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA22 | title=PC compatibility | work=InfoWorld | date=February 27, 1984 | access-date=January 18, 2015 | author=Clapp, Doug | pages=22}}</ref> IBM had expected that most customers in the market would be new to computers, but 75% of the market were familiar with computers and wanted to run business software on the PCjr.<ref name="sanger19850707">{{Cite news |last=Sanger |first=David E. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/07/magazine/the-changing-image-of-ibm.html |title=The Changing Image of I.B.M. |date=1985-07-07 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2020-03-11 |page=Section 6, Page 13 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> An important market was executives who took data home to work on applications such as [[Lotus 1-2-3]] and Peanut had been rumored to be fully PC compatible,{{r|greenwald19830711}} so many customers visited stores believing that the PCjr could run most PC software.{{r|marcom19840222}}{{r|time19840402}}{{r|sanger19840517}}{{r|nyt19831102}}<ref name="gantz19831128">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sy8EAAAAMBAJ | title=Heard on Tech Street | work=InfoWorld | date=November 28, 1983 | access-date=January 13, 2015 | author=Gantz, John | pages=186}}</ref>

IBM's intent was for the PCjr to be perceived as a unique platform, like most other home computers, and their documentation stated it was "a different computer than the PC", but with "a high level of programming compatibility."<ref name="ibm198311">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/IbmPcjrTechnicalReference#page/n317/mode/2up|title=IBM Personal Computer PCjr Hardware Reference Library / Technical Reference|publisher=IBM|year=1983|pages=4–1 to 4–11}}</ref> Nonetheless, potential customers perceived it as a variant of the PC, not a unique platform.<ref name="sanger19850118">{{cite news|author=Sanger, David E.|date=January 18, 1985|title=Computer Giant Finds Problems in Success|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/01/18/business/computer-giant-finds-problems-in-success.html?pagewanted=all|access-date=February 25, 2011}}</ref> While many PC applications would run, specific compatibility issues existed with software that used more than 128K of RAM or required more than one floppy disk drive.<ref name="pcnortonpcjrport">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kSzKzjWHeVEC&pg=PA144 | title=Developing PCjr Software | work=PC Magazine | date=January 24, 1984 | access-date=October 23, 2013 | author=Norton, Peter | pages=144}}</ref>

Thousands of PC applications did require more than 128K of memory<ref name="diamond19840801">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/01/business/ibm-raises-dividend-offers-a-free-keyboard.html | title=I.B.M. Raises Dividend, Offers a Free Keyboard | work=The New York Times | date=1984-08-01 | access-date=4 February 2015 | author=Diamond, Stuart}}</ref> and two disk drives,{{r|esd19831227}}{{r|levy198501}} making the PCjr incompatible with about 60% of software by some measures, including the popular word-processing program [[WordStar]] and Lotus 1-2-3,<ref name="time19840402" /><ref name="mccarroll19841224" /> common applications used to test PC compatibility.<ref name="alsop19940131">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AzsEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22flight+simulator%22&pg=PT1 | title=A public Windows pane to make compatibility clearer | access-date=February 28, 2011 | author=Alsop, Stewart | date=January 31, 1994 | work=InfoWorld | pages=102}}</ref><ref name="shea19840312">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=li4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA37 | title=PCjr users wait for packages | access-date=February 24, 2011 | author=Shea, Tom | date=March 12, 1984 | work=InfoWorld | pages=37–39}}</ref><ref name="trivette198504">{{cite news | url=http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue59/review_lotus_123.php | title=Lotus 1-2-3 For IBM PCjr | work=Compute! | date=April 1985 | access-date=October 6, 2013 | author=Trivette, Donald B. | pages=63}}</ref> IBM's own DisplayWrite was released as a unique PCjr version.<ref name="dickinsondw19840918">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pq3POofPsBEC&pg=PA248 | title=IBM's Displaywriter Begets a Family of PC Software | work=PC | date=September 18, 1984 | access-date=January 29, 2015 | author=Dickinson, John | pages=238}}</ref> A four-line BASIC program that runs on the IBM PC can crash PCjr, mystifying even [[Peter Norton]].<ref name="norton1985">{{Cite book |last=Norton |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Norton |url=https://archive.org/details/The_Peter_Norton_Programmers_Guide_IBM-PC/page/37/mode/2up?view=theater |title=The Peter Norton Programmer's Guide for the IBM PC |publisher=Microsoft Press |year=1985 |isbn=0-914845-46-2 |page=37 |access-date=2025-04-12}}</ref> These compatibility limitations made the computer unsuitable for taking work home,{{r|levy198501}} although a PCjr variant of 1-2-3 was eventually released.{{r|trivette198504}}

Ultimately, the PCjr was perceived as not having a [[Killer application|killer app]] to make up for these limitations.{{r|levy198501}} Software incompatibility made it inadequate as a business machine,{{r|hayes19840424}} but poor performance with arcade-style games made it inadequate as a games machine.{{r|lima19841203}}