> The peripherals didn’t work across platforms. If you wanted to sell hardware in the 1980s, you were stuck building multiple versions of the same device.
True, but in the late 70s and early 80s there was the S-100 bus. This was used by many systems and became an IEEE standard:
True, but in the late 70s and early 80s there was the S-100 bus. This was used by many systems and became an IEEE standard:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-100_bus
However, it wasn't used by widely sold systems like the Apple ][ and later IBM PC, so it faded away.