title: How and when did 8 bits win over 6 bits?
body: <p>Many older computers (such as the UNIVAC 2200 and PDP-15) had words that were multiples of 6 bits (18 and 36 bits being most common).</p>
  
  <p>Octal was used a lot for these systems (an octal digit is three bits, so it fits nicely).</p>
  
  <p>Modern systems have words which are multiples of 8 bits (8, 16, 32 and 64 being common).</p>
  
  <p>Hex is used a lot for these systems (a hex digit is four bits, so it fits nicely).</p>
  
  <p>How, when and why did this happen?</p>
  
  <p>Was the octal->hex change causal or a consequence?</p>
  
  <p>I have already <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/36-bit" rel="nofollow">read</a>.</p>