Compaq Computer Corp and 3Com Corp are apparently on the verge of forming the Mobile Advisory Council, with the aim of pressurizing Microsoft Corp and Intel Corp to consult the PC and peripheral manufacturers before they make changes to the hardware and software specifications, according to press reports. The body would attempt to negotiate en masse with Microsoft and Intel, initially focusing on standards for mobile PCs and equipment. The move was partly interpreted as a reaction to problems over upgrades to Windows 98. As a result of major incompatibilities with existing PC hardware, four major PC manufacturers: Dell Computer Corp, Toshiba America Information Systems Inc, IBM Corp and Gateway Inc issued warnings last week to customers, advising them to delay updating to Windows 98 until various patches and BIOS updates for certain models were in place (CI No 3,445). The equipment vendors are also liable for the cost of technical support to solve these problems, which arise out of third party software, including BIOSes and peripheral drivers, rather than directly from Windows 98. The dominance of Microsoft and Intel, while reducing R&D investment for the rest of the PC industry, has seen those companies lose technical control over the systems they sell. Up until the PC market slump of 1991, Compaq at least was able to use its muscle to define technical standards. In its duel with IBM Corp in 1987 over the Micro Channel Bus Architecture, it wrested PC standards control from IBM, updating the PC bus blueprint with its EISA bus extension to the elderly ISA PC bus. It may be looking to its newly acquired Alpha RISC chip from Digital Equipment Corp to take such an initiative once again.
