Microsoft, like any major company, is usually known for its successes rather than its failures. However, some failures are so “secret” that few have ever heard of them — such as the case of OS/2 for Mach 20, which could easily be considered the biggest flop in Microsoft’s history.
OS/2 for Mach 20: Microsoft’s Forgotten Misstep
In the mid-1980s, Microsoft worked alongside IBM on OS/2, an operating system designed to be the natural successor to MS-DOS and Windows. The goal was to offer something more advanced, more modern, and better suited for professional environments.
The problem was that PC technology at the time was advancing too quickly, and upgrading entire systems was expensive. Within a few short years, the industry had moved from 8088 CPUs running at 4.77 MHz with an 8-bit bus to 386DX units operating at 33 MHz with a 32-bit bus — a leap that complicated everything.
Some companies proposed a creative solution: “Turbo” cards like Microsoft’s Mach 10 and Mach 20, which boosted system performance without replacing the entire computer. The idea was logical — but reality proved otherwise. Neither card became popular, mainly because of their high prices.
The Mach 20 was barely accepted in the market, yet Microsoft decided to launch a special version of OS/2 designed specifically for that hardware. The outcome was disastrous: only 11 copies were sold, and 8 of them were returned, leaving just 3 actual users worldwide. Remarkably, one Microsoft support specialist even spoke personally with two of them.
One of my former colleagues spoke with the person who took over from him as the support specialist for OS/2 for Mach 20. According to that person’s memory […] a total of eleven copies of “OS/2 for Mach 20” were ever sold, and eight of them were returned. That leaves three customers who purchased a copy and didn’t return it. And the support specialist had personally spoken with two of them.
Why OS/2 for Mach 20 Failed
The reason for this failure was simple. Using OS/2 for Mach 20 required understanding how the card worked, how to operate OS/2, and how to integrate everything into an early 1980s PC. It was too complicated, too expensive, and too niche — especially during a time when many users were still learning how to use a mouse. To make matters worse, Windows was just starting to take off, sealing the fate of OS/2 from the start.
Today, OS/2 remains part of computing history as a technological branch that never managed to compete with Windows, and OS/2 for Mach 20 stands as a perfect reminder of something rarely seen: a Microsoft product that literally nobody wanted.
