10 Biggest Computer Flops of all time

Over the years, computers have changed the way we live! Marketing and Technology have recently started to "merge" together to create new amazing experiences.  Howeverm In order to get us to where we are today, many software development and hardware companies have pushed the envelope to create what we use today.  Software development companies have evolved, Hardware has improved. Although we currently live in an age of amazing hardware and software achievements, these products did not come without a price.  Below is a list of some of the worst flops in computer history.

1. The Xerox Alto
   Developed in 1972 at Xerox's Palo Alto Research center, the Alto had a bitmap display, windows, drop-down menu bars, a mouse, built-in Ethernet and hard disk, keyboard, word processor and more in their software productivity suite, a paint application, and even e-mail.  Xerox was far too busy fighting the copier patent war, and was not interested.  Steve Jobs was, and in 1984, Apple introduced Apple Lisa, and the Apple Macintosh.  Although this was the most ingenious creation of the time, quite possibly responsible for the way we use computers today, it should be viewed also as a huge flop when Xerox did not capitalize on its innovation.
2. NeXT computer
   This seemed like a great idea at the time.  Steve Jobs resigned from Apple back in 1985 to start a new company called NeXT.  The NeXT computer would be the most affordable UNIX super computer of its time.  Running a Motorola 33-MHz 68030 processor, enclosed in a black case, there was no doubt this was the hottest and most powerful computer of its time.  However at $6,000 apiece, and with no software that would run on the machine, it was really a $6,000 brick.  Roughly 50,000 were ever produced.  The company had spent over $250 million producing them.  Although a huge disaster, this was also the computer that Tim Berners-Lee would later use to create the World Wide Web, and Steve Jobs would use as the core principles behind the new OS X.
3. IBM PCjr
   IBM was trying to build an affordable machine for the classroom and the masses.  Unfortunately, they ended up building an inferior non IBM-PC compatible machine with a ridiculously small keyboard that wouldn't run any software.  The costs was a few dollars less than some IBM-PC compatible clones, so it was pointless to buy one.  Another nice feature, the keyboard communicated with the computer via infrared beams.  This provided hours of enjoyment in the classroom screwing up other peoples computing.
4. Apple Newton
   Although produced for six years, it was never as successful as Apple had hoped.  The main reasons:  High price, Large size.  It's handwriting recognition was notoriously bad, a problem that was featured in the Doonesbury comic strip.  However, although the Newton product itself never made mass appeal, the technologies that were developed for the Newton are still used today and responsible for many huge success' for Apple (iPod, OS X) and started the PDA line of computer products.
5. Apple 3
   Released in 1980, the Apple 3 became one of the worst computers ever built and most expensive.  It was designed for the high end business market, but at a cost of $7,800, even businesses had trouble justifying the cost.  To make matters worse, the computer was made far too cramped with parts to make it smaller.  When it became too hot inside the computer (Engineers opted to not use a fan), chips would start popping out of the boards!  In order to correct the issue, Apple tech support could be heard saying "please lift up your Apple 3 about 10 centimeters off the desk, and drop it."  this would put the chips back in the slots sometimes.
6. Apple Lisa
   How much to get into an amazing Apple Lisa?  $10,000 dollars.  Announced in 1983, this was a complete disaster for Apple.  Hardly any were ever sold.  How many were produced?  100,000.  The machine itself was far from powerful, and Apple users simply preferred the Macintosh.  The development costs aren't to be found.
   
   
7. Microsoft Windows ME
   Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition was touted as the first operating system to support Universal Plug and Play.  Unfortunately, this operating systems was quite possibly less compatible with hardware, than its predecessor, Windows 98.  It was also notoriously difficult to re-install, which was terrible since this operating system needed to be re-installed almost weekly.  This was one of the worst software development projects of all time for Microsoft. Hardcore users claimed that Windows ME was more stable than 98, or 98SE, and the instabilities came from users installing bad drivers that were not approved and certified.  Nevertheless, most users of Windows were beginners, and thus the perception that Windows ME actually stood for "Microsoft Experiment", "Moron Edition", "Mistake Edition", and "Memory Eater".
8. Microsoft Bob
   Another Software development disaster. This one is great.  In 1995 Microsoft released a software package and interface that was aimed at replacing the Windows desktop with one aimed at novice computer users.  The interface featured a big yellow smiley face with glasses and virtual rooms.  Complete disaster!  Far too simple, not powerful enough, overpriced, and all and all, ridiculous.  This software development project was run by Bill's wife by the way!It was replaced that same year by Windows 95.
9. IBM OS/2
   In the 1990's after feeling "Had" by Microsoft, IBM decided they could trounce Microsoft and come up with their own operating system.  A great idea gone bad by marketing,  the idea became to market OS/2 and the PowerPC Chip together.  Had IBM pushed OS/2, and later OS/2 Warp as an operating system alternative to Windows, the computing landscape might have been different today.  Instead, by the latter half of the 1990's, Windows 95 and 98 had obliterated OS/2.
10. Gary Kildall's CP/M
    Grab a cup of coffee for the biggest mistake, and largest computing stroke of luck that created Microsoft, and one of the wealthiest fortunes the planet has ever seen.  This one created the software industry as we know it! In 1980, IBM finally realized they needed to put a home computer out on the market extremely fast.  However they could not find the time to wait around to build their own operating system.  They wanted to buy one, and the best one at the time, Gary Kildall's CP/M operating system.  Where was Gary Kildall on this fateful day that the IBM suits came knocking?  Out of office flying a private plane.  IBM went back to the office's and looked up Microsoft, which they thought had a broad license to sell CP/M.  Microsoft came in and negotiated a per licenses model to sell the operating system at 50 dollars per machine.  Bill Gates had created the Software Licensing Industry! 
    
    Microsoft did not have such an operating system themselves, nor did they have a license to sell CP/M.  In fact, Gary Kildall's Digital Research didn't have CP/M ready to run on the 16-bit computers IBM would manufacture.  Tim Patterson did at the Seattle Computer Company, which Microsoft bought for $50,000.  Had Gary Kildall been at the office, Microsoft and Bill Gates might have been eating macaroni and cheese, and the Digital Research operating system would be running on all of our computers. Gary Kildall died in July 1994 at the age of 52.  The computer media mainly ignored his passing.

What do all of these stories have in common?  Yes they were all mistakes (at the time), but almost all of them paved the way for some of the largest success's in computing history.  Sometimes for the same company, sometimes for other companies.  The lesson here is persistence, determination, and perseverance.

I've recently started a new blog focused on Social Media, Digital Marketing, and Technology at www.miguelcarrasco.com. I'd love for you to check it out as there are many more exciting posts including video casts available for you to watch.

If you would like to read other software development disasters, specifically Microsoft software mistakes, make sure you read Ten Biggest Microsoft Flops of All Time!

Comments

[Carlo Castillo]

Had been working with the PowerPC since its inception and I do not recall OS/2 ever being intended for the platform. PowerPC's early generations were meant to run AIX and Windows NT.

[Alex Reid]

So, something worthwhile from all of these 'flops' was carried forward; with two exceptions:

MS BOB: gave the world Comic Sans (shudder) and the Office Assistant (uses the same 'actor' technology, if I recall correctly).

Windows ME: gave the world what, exactly? System Restore? Nope, that was in 2000, right? I think it had a new icon set and desktop background colour, hooray; both also carried over to 2000.

[Bruce]

I agree with the last two too.

[Fernando]

FYI for what it's worth: NCR & Diebold (manufacturers) of ATM's (Automatic Teller Machines) have until very recently based their systems on OS/2. Where it proved far more stable, robust & secure than Windows.

When IBM announced they were no longer going to support/develop OS/2 further the 2 ATM giants have been forced to use WinXP! Stability now is a thing of the past! even looking at the ATM side ways will corrupt the software!

My 5 cents! Loved reading all this as it brings back many memories....ahh how can we forget the Sinclair ZX80 or Spectrum!

[Eric]

I called NeXT one day to buy a manual after I picked up a copy of NeXTSTEP for Intel for $65.

They tried to recruit me (a newspaper photographer) to work for them! :-D

As for software, there was a bunch of software for NeXT. They even had that Lotus spreadsheet alternative to 123 (the 3D one) for a while. In addition, NeXT was very popular on Wall Street for several years as a rapid development platform for custom apps.

And what was stated above is absolutely true. NeXT executed one of the greatest coups in the history of computers. They got themselves bought for under $500 million, came in and took over Apple and we Mac users have been using NeXT for the past six years as a result!

Tim Berners-Lee + NeXT Cube = WWW

I'd say that's darn successful.

[Steven Groman]

do you remember?

- Atari Transputer Station
- Zilog Z-800
- Zilog Z-80000
- Motorola 68060

... more to come ...

[probir]

Motorola 68000 series of processors, DivX and DAT,and perhaps Bluray/HDD....?

probir roy

[Charles Stella]

How do you not mention the Intel SDram/ 850 chipset debacle. How bout the original Amiga? The prescot furnaces? How bout when IBM originally told Gates to go screw. How bout the money pit known as Itanium?

[Guido]

Atari Falcon 030, 68030 Motorola processor,

didn't fly at all and Atari sunk....

[Bruce Haugland]

The Xerox Alto can hardly be called a flop since it was primaily a Research Tool and was never intended to be a commercial product. Indeed it is responsible for most of the computer technology used Today.

In fact in looking at the Alto and today's computers I have to ask. Has anyone had an original idea in the last 28 years.

[Paul McMahon]

Around the time the Commodore 64 was making inroads in the home computing market, other companies tried making gains. I particularly remember two that stood out as poorly designed: the Timex Sinclair and the Coleco Adam. The 2k Sinclair featured a flat, keyless keyboard that left your fingers bruised and battered as your struggled to make contact points under the blister-style buttons. Especially frustrating were the compound keys necessary to issue BASIC commands; the memory was so limited that the O/S disallowed you from manually keying in BASIC statements instead requiring you to hold down three or four keys to issue the "GO" command instead of simply typing G-O. On the other hand, the Coleco Adam attempted to build on the name of the popular Colecovision gaming system (rival to the Atari 2600 and Intellivision) and target the young student. It featured kid friendly software and games, and began to make strides in the market - until the machines started to break, and break they did. Worse still, the convoluted hardware configuration required that all components being completely functioning. For example, the power supply for the system was located inside the printer, so the system could not be used at all while the printer was being repaired... again.

[Patrick]

"A great idea gone bad by marketing...later OS/2 Warp as an operating system alternative to Windows..."

I have to say I'm completely baffled by that one. At the time I couldn't watch TV for more than a half hour before seeing at least one OS/2 Warp commercial. Finally I was convinced and bought a copy.

Why flop? Windows 3.1 at the time ran acceptably with 1MB of RAM, and nicely with 4MB. Warp completely crawled with 4MB (boot took nearly 10 minutes), and required 16-32MB to run nicely. At $150 per 4MB stick at the time, users couldn't afford hundreds of dollars of upgrades for the "better alternative." Copies collected dust on bookshelves and word of mouth crushed whatever was left.

[Mafius]

Interesante

[Matt]

Hey on that list you forgot to put Microsoft windows in general...
It sucks.
I use linux.

[Billy Beck]

I had 32mb RAM in a 486-DXII, and OS/2 *never* ran on that machine. It's about the worst software experience I ever had.

[Tor I.]

The C-128 was not a failure - for what it was it was a nice machine, but hardly any softwaer was written for it. commodore's big mistakes were the Amiga 500-incompatible machines 500+, 600 and 600HD in the Amiga era.

The 68k series cannot be called a failure - it was heavily used by Sun, Amiga, Atari... Now, their 88k series of RISC processors on the other hand...

[Lee Darrow]

You missed the Coleco Computer, with the printer that was SO loud that it came with its own sound enclosure and people STILL complained that it was louder than an M-60 machine gun in an all-steel trash can sitting on your desk! It also had an operating system with NO software available for it other than what came WITH it as I recall!

Now THAT was a flop!

When the neighbors from TWO houses away complain to the cops about the noise from your printer - and the printer is already IN a "sound enclosure" (and actually a pretty good one, too), the manufacturer has a flop on its hands.

Lee Darrow, C.H.

[Javier Cámara]

I rather think that the lessons to be learnt from these concrete examples are: a) don't do silly things, b) accept deals even if you do not know how to sort them out, and c) have good luck. For getting lessons on persistence, determination and perseverance I think you should chose different examples.

[erere]

Helló!
Szerintem nem ezek a legnagyobb bukások!!

[Nithin]

Your full post has been copied here without permission:
http://discover-x.blogspot.com/2007/04/10-biggest-computer-flops-of-all-time.html

[alpabarot]

Hi,

You have a very cool blog here…loved the content.
U know there is an awesome opportunity for people like you who have ur own blogs n sites…I came across this site called Myndnet.com…it’s a platform for people to buy and sell IT related information. and everytime you sell some information you get paid for it…Good money for people like us in the IT domain. Here the link http://www.myndnet.com/login.jsp?referral=alpa83&channel=al4

Sign up is free…check it out…
You can contact me at my id here for more questions : barot.alpa@gmail.com

Cheers
Alpa

[Hugo]

This list is stupid. How can you put at the same level stupidities like BOB (flawed by design) and Alto or NeXT? or the Newton?

Alto's computer, NeXT, and the Newton were a revolution at the time; not commercially, but technologically. Without those products, the world would be different nowadays. However, I don't think we would really miss much if BOB had never existed.

The Newton handwritting wasn't bad. Maybe the very first versions. I developed some application using a 110 and a 2100 models, and they were awesome. The 2100, in 1996, was able to play quicktime movies in 256 grays, it had a socket for expansion cards that could use a GPS card with maps applications (I saw a demo of one). The handwritting would learn from your own style; so of course, the very first times you used the Newton, it wouldn't write too well, but it would soon learn how your writing was. Then it would be screwed up if you shared it with someone ;-) And don't forget that the word PDA was coined by Apple CEO at the time, referring to the Newton. (After reading the book "Startup" I found out both Apple and M$ killed the really revolutionary and first "PDA" from GO).

BTW, Steve Jobs did not "resign from Apple in 1985 to start a new company called NeXT", he was kicked out ;-)

[James M]

Hardware - Dec Rainbow with the upside down floppy drive.

IBM - Model 25 - all in one mac clone, using an under powered 8088! It was way outdated before they even sold one unit.

OS/2 was NOT a flop, it became NT server and then Win 2000 and then XP. Crash win 2000 and you get OS/2 error messages.

Flop was IBM's TOP-VIEW operating system for the PC. (Pre-OS/2)

Windows ME was NOT a flop. On identical hardware it is faster than NT, 2000 and XP for most operations. It still works. I have clients that still run ME on low end boxes, because it is the OS most suited to the hardware. I still use it on low end notebooks. Microsoft was issuing updates and patches for it until mid 2006. We still use it every day to boot to. Use it to do some BIOS updates and things like hardware setup and low level disk formats.

Another flop, the MS Port-Hole cross platform development interface. Lots of people spend thousands of years of programmer time on a completely bogus Microsoft 'red herring'.

[LonelyStreets]

You have your history a little off: The Xerox Star was the flop - the Alto was an in-house machine that was never really intended for commercial release. The Star was its over-expensive commercial counterpart (and thus the flop). Since the Alto was made for research purposes, and no one can argue that Xerox PARC did great research, it wasn't a flop. Great list otherwise!

[Joe Cassara]

These lists are really "tired", as Wired Magazine would say. The article's title should be "Commercial Flops", and the author needs to inject a little less personal opinion about the machines. This smells like Robert X. Cringely Jr.