Raw Bytes Computer News KPBX FM 91.1 Spokane Public Radio National Public Radio Network Frank Delaney Producer Broadcast on Wednesday Morning 7:35 AM During Morning Edition Support Public Radio ! The Theater Of the Mind

In computer news this week 08/13/2008 A funny thing happened about this time in August 27 years ago – and it changed the world August is traditionally the slowest month in American business, and most product introductions are made at other times, but IBM was introducing their first personal computer, which they had worked on for months with a small Seattle company named Microsoft. Originally the plan was to just use Microsoft’s Basic language for the IBM pc, but through a series of historic events IBM turned to Microsoft to write the operating system too – MSDOS – which went on to become Microsoft’s cash cow through their concept of licensing it. It was a frantic several months of around the clock work to meet a product introduction deadline. IBM gave Microsoft hardware prototypes of their PC to develop Basic and the new operating system for. IBM required strict security procedures, which Microsoft felt were silly. Microsoft's Bellevue offices and IBM's Boca Raton, Florida, production facilities were at exact opposite ends of the country, necessitating hundreds of flights to hastily called meetings - usually by IBM. Despite these problems, and the clash of corporate cultures, - the deadline of introducing the IBM PC on August 12, 1981 was met. However, Microsoft - to whom the project had been a labor of love - was not even invited to the product introduction. To IBM, Microsoft was just another vendor. The PC was just another product. The finalized IBM PC was close to what Bill Gates had specified should comprise a new generation computer. IBM decided to use the Intel 8088 chip - - instead of the true 16-bit 8086 chip, saving a few dollars in production cost, but slowing the system down. The system had a built-in cassette tape interface but used 5" floppy disk drives and had monochrome graphics. The Basic language was in a ROM chip inside the computer, and you had your choice of 3 operating systems. Configuration prices ranged from about $ 1600 for a 16K RAM mono system, up to over six Grand for a 320K system which included CGA color graphics. IBM was so unsure of market acceptance that they made a low key product introduction.. Apple Computer even ran a newspaper ad welcoming IBM into the marketplace. The market acceptance - was phenomenal. Software for it seemed to grow on trees. A new spreadsheet program called Lotus soon became a reason to buy the new IBM PC. Quality Word Processing and Database programs emerged. 3rd Party hardware companies began creating drop-in cards such as the Hercules monographics adapter. People rushed to computer stores like Lemmings to the sea. Demand was so high that stores had lotteries for the chance to buy an IBM PC at grossly inflated prices. So incredible was IBM's success that the October 3rd, 1983 issue of Business Week magazine ran a cover story entitled "Personal Computers - and the Winner is - IBM", explaining how IBM had gone from zero to market domination in 2 years.

For Raw Bytes This is Frank Delaney (C) 2008 MTA Micro Technology Associates http://www.mtamicro.com/kpbx.html PO Box 31522 Spokane, Wa 99223-1522 (509)624-7230 mailto:frank@mtamicro.com