7
C3
2. Family of personal computers
In the present market, there are two main streams of computers: IBM PC and Apple
Macintosh.
IBM PC
In July of 1980, IBM representatives met for the first time with Microsoft's Bill
Gates to talk about writing an operation system for IBM's new hush-hush
"personal" computer. IBM had been observing the growing personal computer
market for some time. They had already made one dismal attempt to crack the
market with their IBM 5100. At one point, IBM considered buying the fledgling
game company Atari to commandeer Atari's early line of personal computers.
However, IBM decided to stick with making their own personal computer line and
developed a brand new operating system to go with. The secret plans were referred
to as "Project Chess". The code name for the new computer was "Acorn". Twelve
engineers, led by William C. Lowe, assembled in Boca Raton, Florida, to design
and build the "Acorn". On August 12, 1981, IBM released their new computer,
re-named the IBM PC. The "PC" stood for "personal computer" making IBM
responsible for popularizing the term "PC".
The first IBM PC ran on a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 microprocessor. The PC came
equipped with 16 kilobytes of memory, expandable to 256k. The PC came with one
or two 160k floppy disk drives and an optional color monitor. The price tag started
at $1,565, which would be nearly $4,000 today. What really made the IBM PC
different from previous IBM computers was that it was the first one built from off
the shelf parts (called open architecture) and marketed by outside distributors
(Sears & Roebucks and Computerland). The Intel chip was chosen because IBM
had already obtained the rights to manufacture the Intel chips. IBM had used the
Intel 8086 for use in its Displaywriter Intelligent Typewriter in exchange for giving
Intel the rights to IBM's bubble memory technology.
Apple Macintosh
In December, 1983, Apple Computers ran its' famous "1984" Macintosh television
commercial, on a small unknown station solely to make the commercial eligible for
awards during 1984. The commercial cost 1.5 million and only ran once in 1983,
but news and talk shows everywhere replayed it, making TV history. The next
month, Apple Computer ran the same ad during the NFL Super Bowl, and millions
of viewers saw their first glimpse of the Macintosh computer. Ridley Scott directed
the commercial, and the Orwellian scene depicted the IBM world being destroyed
by a new machine, the "Macintosh".
(96 paginas)
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