Even before the 6809 was released, in 1976 Motorola had launched its own advanced CPU project, then known as Motorola Advanced Computer System on Silicon project, or MACSS. Although too late to be chosen for the IBM PC project, when MACSS appeared as the Motorola 68000 in 1979 it took any remaining interest in the 6809. Motorola soon announced that their future 8-bit systems would be powered by cut-down versions of the 68000 rather than further improved versions of the 6809.