I've programmed both, though only shipped products that used the i960 (CA and KB). I believe the i960 tended to be used in things like printers but there weren't many design wins for the i860.
I managed to miss the magic that is the 88k thankfully. Who actually used it? Linotype? Tek workstations maybe?
>They had made the 8008 and 8080, but those were awkward and ungainly chips meant to power calculators,
I remember talking to Vic Poor when I used to work with him and calculators didn't seem to figure into the whole deal. It's probably worth a quick read through Datapoint history.