PERSONAL COMPUTER ERA : 1981 to present

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