Why Did Intel x86 Beat RISC Processors in the 1990s?

RISC workstations from companies such as Sun, Silicon Graphics, HP, and Acorn battled Intel in the 90s and lost. Will the same happen with Arm and RISC-V?

Octane was a IRIX workstation released by Silicon Graphics in 1997

Whenever I write about the ascent of modern RISC processors such as Arm and RISC-V, I always get comments about how…