With two operating systems – if not three – and two microprocessor families, plus a plethora of alternative buses, there is a deal of scepticism over just how much of a standard the Advanced Computing Environment will become, but Compaq Computer Corp has no doubts about how it will energise its sales: according to the Wall Street Journal, Compaq insiders say they are shooting for annual sales of $15,000m by the year 2000 on the back of the environment, which would make it bigger in eight years’ time than any computer company apart from IBM Corp and Fujitsu Ltd is today if Compaq is talking in terms of 1991 dollars.
