Personal Computers: A History of the Hardware That Changed the World
On this day in 1981, IBM launched the "Personal Computer."
Revealed at a press conference at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, the
21-pound PC cost $1,565, boasted 16K of memory, and had the ability to connect
to a TV set, play games and word process.
While IBM wasn't the first
or only company with a personal computer on the market (the Apple II was
launched in 1977), it kick-started the home computing revolution. A year later,
the personal computer was selected as Time Magazine's "Man (or
rather, Machine) of the Year."
Fast-forward 30 years and the IBM Personal Computer is a relic from another
era, almost unrecognizable in comparison to the slick devices on which we
compute today. From those earliest machine beasts to today's tablets, we've
taken a look at some historical highlights of the personal computer. Take a
look through the gallery, and share your PC memories in the comments
below.
Pre-1981
While computers sold in kit form had been available to hobbyists during the
'70s, it wasn't until later on in the disco decade that consumer-friendly
computer systems hit shop shelves. Prior to this, you wouldn't be
boasting about your "personal computer," you'd be talking up your
"microcomputer."
As technology evolved and prices dropped, the late '70s brought about a
vision of a "home computer" under every American roof. The wife would
use it to store recipes, the husband to manage the family accounts, and the
kids to type their homework and maybe play a bit of Pong.
The popular computers of the time — the Commodore PET, Atari 400, Tandy
Radio Shack TRS-80 and Apple II — were all comparatively easy for the average
family to get started with. An Apple advert from 1978 describes the II as
"a fully tested and assembled mainframe computer." It boasted,
"You won't need to spend weeks and months in assembly. Just take an Apple
home, plug it in, hook up your color TV and any cassette tape deck -- and the
fun begins."
The IBM Era
"This is the computer for just about everyone who has ever wanted a
personal system at the office, on the university campus or at home," C. B.
Rogers, IBM vice president and group executive said in the IBM Personal
Computer's 1981 press release. "We believe its performance, reliability and
ease of use make it the most advanced, affordable personal computer in the
marketplace."
Just one year earlier, IBM execs had tasked a lab team to create the
company's first consumer-facing PC — and to do it fast. At the time, the plan
was met with skepticism. IBM SAYS one analyst was quoted: "IBM bringing out a
personal computer would be like teaching an elephant to tap dance." But
IBM wanted an offering on the market to compete with the likes of Apple,
Commodore and Atari, who were all making headway in the burgeoning home
computing market.
Under the leadership of don estridge , the PC was built from third-party hardware
and software. This decision saved time and money, versus building a machine
from the ground up. The processor came from Intel and the MS-DOS software from
Microsoft. This solution actually helped the IBM PC succeed within the
industry. As an open, well-documented system, other manufacturers made
peripherals and software for the system.
As far as public perception, the IBM name went a long way to help the PC's
success. Former IBM engineer David J. Bradley told PC world that the question of the day was: "Do you
want to buy a computer from International Business Machines or from a company
named after a fruit?"
Over the next 10 years, IBM evolved the Personal Computer, increasing
processing speed tenfold over the original model, instruction execution rate a
hundredfold, system memory a thousandfold (from 16KB to 16MB), and system
storage by 10,000, from 160 KB to 1.6GB.
Put simply, the IBM Personal Computer is the ancestor of all modern PCs. As
a platform, the PC's growth was astonishing -- from a 55% market share in 1986 to an 84% share in 1990.
1990s
In the 1990s, the personal computer market changed dramatically when many of
the big brand names that had helped establish it during the '80s disappeared.
Amiga, Commodore, Atari, Sinclair and Amstrad all fell to strong competition
and competitive pricing.
Compaq (later bought by HP) and Dell, with its direct sales model, became
the big names in Windows-based personal computers. The release of the
successful Windows 3.0 operating system in 1990, the even more successful
Windows 95 in — yep, 1995 — and its follow-up Windows 98 meant the Microsoft
name became synonymous with computers for most consumers.
Although it saw success in the early '90s with the PowerBook, Apple
struggled to maintain market share against Microsoft's dominance throughout the
decade. It wasn't until Steve Jobs returned to the company in 1997 and the iMac
— and then later the iBook — were revealed that Apple's fortune in the PC
market improved.
While most home computers were still desktops during this decade,
portability soon became important. And although many manufacturers had
previously launched machines dubbed "portable," thanks to power management improvements , the laptop that we know and recognize today was a
product of the '90s.
IBM launched its laptop in 1992 with the ThinkPad 700-series. It was the
first of a long line of very popular portable PCs. Other manufacturers soon
followed suit, with varied success.
2000s
The computer industry had a rocky start in the early 2000s with the Y2K, or
"Millennium Bug." It threatened to plunge the earth into a
technology-free wilderness when computer systems around the globe crashed at
midnight, supposedly unable to cope with the new date format.
Although glitches did surface, the results weren't as bad as predicted, and
we carried on computing happily through the decade. The big news for the 2000s
was, of course, the rapid rise of the Internet. Relatively low-cost
"Internet appliances" or "net PCs" made a brief bid for
popularity in the early part of the decade, offering consumers a plug-and-play
way to get online. However, decreasing costs of full-fat PCs meant increasingly
sophisticated consumers were happy to go whole-hog.
Apple, bouyed by the popularity of the iPod, launched Mac OS X 10 in 2002.
It soon saw varying degrees of success throughout the 2000s with its pro-level
machines, PowerBooks, iBooks, iMacs, Mac Minis, MacBooks and toward the end of
the decade, the MacBook Air.
Meanwhile, Microsoft made millions of consumers very happy with the 2001
news that Clippy would no longer be present in future versions of Microsoft
Office. Otherwise, it was a huge decade for Microsoft. During this era, the
company launched Windows XP (the massive OS that Microsoft could barely kill
off), and then 2005's Vista (which Microsoft could barely keep afloat).
Thankfully in 2009, Microsoft released Windows 7, which meant it was finally
safe for consumers to return to the Windows fold.
As far as hardware trends in the 2000s, desktops shrunk quickly, and laptop
popularity rose dramatically as features improved and prices dropped. But the
netbook was the exciting new factor: Small, light, ultra-portable PCs, such as
the seminal ASUS Eee, meant big business for connected consumers who were eager
for an easy way to get online while out and about. Mobile broadband also helped
increase adoption rate, which many netbooks offered for "free" with
mobile broadband contracts.
The evolution of the personal computer doesn't end at the netbook though.
There was imminent new tech on the horizon that would excite consumers enough
to splurge their hard-earned cash — 2010 saw the dawn of the tablet era.
The Future
The immediate future of the personal computer seems to be firmly rooted in
the tablet. While traditional productivity tasks on a PC still require a
physical keyboard, most consumer applications — social networking, media
consumption, browsing, casual gaming, email — can be easily carried out on
touchscreen devices.
A recent samsung survey suggested that 90% of U.S. consumers either
already own a tablet, or would consider buying one. And as tablets become more
advanced, they will increasingly replace other PC form factors, rather than
exist alongside them.
A 2010 forrester report suggested that tablets will outsell
netbooks by 2012, and that by 2015, 23% of all consumer PC sales in the U.S.
will be tablets.
We are, as Steve Jobs said, entering a "post-PC era ," in
which personal computing will get smaller, lighter, more portable and more personal,
even, as the years go by.
Toward the end of the decade, we can look forward to innovations that will
seem as revolutionary as the IBM Personal Computer back in 1981.
While only time will tell what direction the personal computer takes, we
could expect wearable wrist-based computers that project hologram displays; acoustic input via the skin for tiny, ultra-portable PCs;
or even PCs that get under our skin via high-tech implants .
REFERANCE
http://mashable.com/2011/08/12/ibm-pc-history/
http://www.psexam.com/Notes-for-Computer-Science/operating-systems-history-of-operating-system-article/1970s-The-Beginning-of-Microprocessor-and-Personal-Computer-Era.html
