Editing IBM RT PC (section)

==Sales and market reception==
When the RT PC was introduced in January 1986, it competed with several workstations from established providers: the [[Apollo Computer]] [[Apollo/Domain|Domain Series 3000]], the [[Digital Equipment Corporation|DEC]] [[MicroVAX|MicroVAX II]], and [[Sun-3|Sun Microsystems Sun-3]].{{r|hamilton19860127}}<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Seymour |first=Jim |title=Marketing the IBM RT PC |date=10 June 1986 |magazine=PC Magazine |page=114}}</ref> Rivals, ''[[Computerworld]]'' said, "breath[ed] a sigh of relief" that IBM's product was neither cheaper nor faster than theirs.<ref name="hamilton19860127">{{Cite magazine |last=Hamilton |first=Rosemary |date=1986-01-27 |title=Workstation vendors claim IBM's RT PC poses no threat |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=33QfOHT69aMC&pg=PA9#v=onepage&q&f=true |access-date=2025-05-29 |magazine=Computerworld |pages=9 |volume=XX |issue=4}}</ref> Analysts said that RT PC was too expensive (almost $40,000 for a [[CAD/CAM]] system) and imitative of rivals' products, with unimpressive graphics and networking capabilities,<ref name="babcock19860127">{{Cite magazine |last=Babcock |first=Charles |date=1986-01-27 |title=IBM unveils RISC system |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=33QfOHT69aMC&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=true |access-date=2025-05-29 |magazine=Computerworld |pages=1,8 |volume=XX |issue=4}}</ref> but expected that IBM would continue to compete for the workstation market.{{r|hamilton19860127}}

The performance of the RT, in comparison with other contemporaneous [[Unix workstations]], was not outstanding. In particular, the [[floating point]] performance was poor,{{cn|date=August 2016}} and was scandalized mid-life with the discovery of a bug in the floating point [[square root]] routine.{{cn|date=August 2016}} [[Personal Computer World]] said "it's hard to see what you get with the 6150 that you can't get by combining any other Unix box to run multi-user applications, with a cheap AT clone to run single-user PC applications".{{r|pcw198701_ibm6150}} Both [[MIT]]'s [[Project Athena]] and [[Brown University]]'s [[Institute for Research in Information and Scholarship]] found the RT inferior to other computers.<ref name="garfinkel19890506">{{cite news | url=https://simson.net/clips/1989/1989.TechRev.Athena.pdf | title=Ripples Across the Academic Market | work=Technology Review | date=May–June 1989 | access-date=25 January 2016 | author=Garfinkel, Simson L. | pages=9–13 | author-link=Simson Garfinkel}}</ref>

Many thought that the RT was part of [[IBM PC|IBM's Personal Computer]] line of computers. This confusion started with its initial name, "IBM RT PC". Initially, it seemed that even IBM thought that it was a high-end Personal Computer given the initially stunning lack of support that it received from IBM. This could be explained by the [[commission (remuneration)|sales commission]] structure the IBM gave the system: salesmen received commissions similar to those for the sale of a PC. With typically configured models priced at $20,000, it was a hard sell, and the lack of any reasonable commission lost the interest of IBM's sales force.{{cn|date=August 2016}}

With the RT system's modest processing power (when first announced), and with announcements later that year by some other workstation vendors, industry analysts questioned IBM's directions. AIX for the RT was another IBM attempt to sell Unix, after [[PC/IX]] for the IBM PC in September 1984. The lack of software packages and IBM's sometimes lackluster support of AIX, in addition to sometimes unusual changes from traditional, de facto UNIX operating system standards, caused most software suppliers to be slow in embracing the RT and AIX. The RT found its home mostly in the [[computer-aided design|CAD]]/[[computer-aided manufacturing|CAM]] and [[CATIA]] markets, with some inroads into the scientific and educational areas, especially after the announcement of AOS and substantial discounts for the educational community. The RT running the Pick OS also found use as shopping store control systems, given the strong database, accounting system and general business support in the Pick OS.  The RT also did well as an interface system between IBM's larger mainframes, due to its SNA and DS support, and some of its point-of-sale terminals, store control systems, and machine shop control systems.

Approximately 23,000 RTs were sold over its lifetime, with some 4,000 going into IBM's development and sales organizations. Pick OS sales accounted for about 4,000 units.