It took VGA and the 386 to really take over.
The 286 was "brain damaged" for implementing operating systems according to Bill Gates for two reasons: (1) you could not get back to real mode without doing a terrible hack resetting the whole machine, (2) you could not write to segment registers at all from user mode so writing programs that use more than a 64k data segment and 64 k code segment means doing an OS call.
The 386 on the other hand took forever to get to the point where a 32-bit OS was mainstream, from 1985 release of the 386 to 1995. Some of us (me) were using Linux before then, but that was it.
My conclusion about the 286 being pivotal came from my own experience (switched in 1987) and also looking at old issues of Byte magazine circa 1987 and seeing that all the advertisers were in a state of turmoil. For instance some firms like Cromeco who sold S-100 bus and CP/M machines to OEM's to put, say, a cash register system in a supermarket were giving up the ghost because PC's were crushing them. Similarly there were ads for PC clone makers all over the place but anything associated with the 8-bits was vanished. The original IBM PC was much more expensive than 8-bit machines but not much better in terms of power, PC AT clones were still more expensive but they were so much more powerful that it was worth it.
The big change I saw was in the early 90s when 386 PCs with VGA displays became common place. This is when the people I knew upgraded and 8088 machines completely faded from the scene. The killer app driving 386 sales was Windows 3.0.
My company, Magicomm, wrote 3rd party add-ons for the main system and eventually my partner was hired on with them directly...me? Not so lucky I remember interviewing directly with the owner, Tim Striker, and I was so nervous because I wanted to work there so badly...I almost completely blanked out for the interview and couldn't remember even the simplest of C basics. (Describe an union, what command do you use to zero out memory after you malloc etc etc)
I bombed the interview and never did get to work for my dream company like my partner, who I basically trained on how to use C, did, and to this day this fact irks me lol.
I do remember though spending a lot of time at All Books and Records on Sunrise Blvd (I think) next to the Sears. Coolest book and record store around except for maybe Robert A Hittel’s bookstore on Federal Hwy..
Also spent a lot of time going to Sunshine Software on Cypress Creek Rd.. kind of a magical place run by two rly cool computer dudes..
I went with dad and brother a few times, and yes, middle-aged computer guys selling stuff. I was always more excited by the hardware than software, so I didn't check out those tables so much.
It took years for the pc game industry to become as good as the 8bit era.
Doom changed everything of course.