The term PC has been used to mean x86 compatible machines designed to run Microsoft operating systems for 45 years now; IBM started using the term for their model 5150 in 1981. It was too generic to trademark but they did trademark “IBM Personal Computer” and “IBM-PC”. You had other platforms like Apple Macintosh, Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, and among them the IBM Personal Computer. That was one company’s branding. If you were releasing software, you’d say “For Mac, Amiga and PC.”
It just so happens the one with the very generic name also happened to be made of almost entirely off-the-shelf parts and a third-party OS they didn’t bother to secure exclusive rights to, so the only thing they really held IP rights over was the BIOS. Compaq engineered a non-infringing BIOS, and boom the PC was now an open standard, and hence it was the one that got widely adopted. “IBM-Compatible” was attempted for awhile, but that kinda died when IBM bowed out of the market entirely, “x86-compatible” is awkward, “Intel-compatible” is also awkward because the 64-bit extensions are actually AMD’s doing, and MS-DOS or MS-Windows compatible is incorrect because other OSes are available. So…we use “PC” to describe the ecosystem as a whole for lack of any better term.
The term PC has been used to mean x86 compatible machines designed to run Microsoft operating systems for 45 years now; IBM started using the term for their model 5150 in 1981. It was too generic to trademark but they did trademark “IBM Personal Computer” and “IBM-PC”. You had other platforms like Apple Macintosh, Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, and among them the IBM Personal Computer. That was one company’s branding. If you were releasing software, you’d say “For Mac, Amiga and PC.”
It just so happens the one with the very generic name also happened to be made of almost entirely off-the-shelf parts and a third-party OS they didn’t bother to secure exclusive rights to, so the only thing they really held IP rights over was the BIOS. Compaq engineered a non-infringing BIOS, and boom the PC was now an open standard, and hence it was the one that got widely adopted. “IBM-Compatible” was attempted for awhile, but that kinda died when IBM bowed out of the market entirely, “x86-compatible” is awkward, “Intel-compatible” is also awkward because the 64-bit extensions are actually AMD’s doing, and MS-DOS or MS-Windows compatible is incorrect because other OSes are available. So…we use “PC” to describe the ecosystem as a whole for lack of any better term.