I was around when our lab replaced Symbolics Lisp Machines with Sun workstations.
Maybe this was a European (or non-US) thing, but non of the Lisp vendors had a built out worldwide distribution and service network, so buying and actually getting machines delivered was not a trivial undertaking.
Once Sun did add the support for performant garbage collection that Lisp needed, the choice was clear. Local sales and service clenched the deal, and versatility and broader support were cherries on top. Then the whole lisp machine business collapsed so they weren't even a remote option anymore.
A relatively short term later Suns where replaced by Apple Mackintoshs running Mac Common Lisp. MCL was a very decent Lisp environment, machinrs were cheap and by now used for much more than just programming.
The next wave would have been PCs, which had far better support. Apple never seemed to understand that your work depended on your computer, and that driving to an Apple store to drop of your machine so you could hopefully pick it up again in 2 to 3 weeks was not a serious option. Meanwhile Dell and the likes offered cheap Next Business Day on-site service.
But PC's for Lisp would be held back for a long time by Allegro cornering the PC Lisp market with a product that at the time felt inferior to MCL, while having very aggressive (phone) sales techniques and extremely high prices.
Maybe this was a European (or non-US) thing, but non of the Lisp vendors had a built out worldwide distribution and service network, so buying and actually getting machines delivered was not a trivial undertaking.
Once Sun did add the support for performant garbage collection that Lisp needed, the choice was clear. Local sales and service clenched the deal, and versatility and broader support were cherries on top. Then the whole lisp machine business collapsed so they weren't even a remote option anymore.
A relatively short term later Suns where replaced by Apple Mackintoshs running Mac Common Lisp. MCL was a very decent Lisp environment, machinrs were cheap and by now used for much more than just programming.
The next wave would have been PCs, which had far better support. Apple never seemed to understand that your work depended on your computer, and that driving to an Apple store to drop of your machine so you could hopefully pick it up again in 2 to 3 weeks was not a serious option. Meanwhile Dell and the likes offered cheap Next Business Day on-site service.
But PC's for Lisp would be held back for a long time by Allegro cornering the PC Lisp market with a product that at the time felt inferior to MCL, while having very aggressive (phone) sales techniques and extremely high prices.