The delay in releasing CP/M-86, the 16-bit version of CP/M, was a significant factor in its downfall. While the delay was partly due to the success of CP/M 2.2, which required extensive support for OEMs, the primary reason was the time-consuming development of a new PL/I compiler. This diversion from CP/M development ultimately led to IBM choosing MS-DOS for their PC.

Microsoft’s SoftCard, a hardware card that enabled the Apple II to run CP/M, became a major success and the most popular platform for CP/M. This success, however, strained DRI’s resources, delaying CP/M-86 and leading to the development of 86-DOS by SCP, which Microsoft later acquired and rebranded as MS-DOS. Despite initial success, CP/M-86 struggled against MS-DOS, ultimately leading to DRI’s decline and acquisition by Novell in 1991.