[rodgerd]

> The iAPX 432 failed for a very good reason

From my point of view I guess it actually seems like a terrible reason in the long run, given that even something as widely derided as the x86 architecture has, over time, been made to perform.

[sitkack]

Ideas fail and succeed for reasons that are totally unrelated to their "goodness". X86, JavaScript, trains, the bicycle.

[efnx]

Please expand on the bicycle.

[sitkack]

The bicycle is an excellent technology that has largely failed in western world, but not because it is a bad idea. The car economy has more money and more political power, allowing it to displace the bicycle.

[jacquesm]

The bicycle is doing fine in the western world, it's the transportation of choice for just about every kid and plenty of adults too.

[sitkack]

I wasn't making a value judgement on bicycles. Look at the growth curve and adoption rate of bicycles in the western world. The bicycle paved the way for the car. Tubed tires, chains, sealed roads. All for the bicycle. Cities could have been denser, cleaner, quieter and vastly safer with bicycles. Places like Amsterdam weren't always cycling paradise, canals were getting paved for to make streets for cars. In China which has had great bicycle adoption is seeing a state sponsored push to switch over to a car based consumption economy.

Only recently has the bicycle seen a resurgence in the west. Because there is a small uptick doesn't mean bicycles as a technology have succeeded the level they should have compared to the alternatives.

http://planyourcity.net/2013/03/15/amsterdam-the-bicycling-c...