Personal Computers: The Early Years

The early history of personal computers (PC) is interesting because of the people involved as well the impact
these events would have on the world. The first usable PC was introduced in 1975 and was the MITS Altair
88001, supplied in a kit form computer where users actually assembled the computer from the parts supplied
in the box. It had neither screen nor keyboard as users entered the instructions via switches on the box and
the output was a set of lights across the box. Users checked the input from the lights and interpreted the
lights for the results. The Altair was named after view an early episode of Star Trek. Two young men, Bill
Gates and Paul Allen wrote programs for the Altair and formed a company called Microsoft.

In 1976 another two young men worked on a personal computer and built the early model in a garage 2.
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built the computer and sold the Apple I to the Byte Shop. As the business
expanded there was a need for more capital, but banks were unwilling to invest in such a venture as they
were unable to see the need for computers in the home. Mike Markkula, who was willing to co-sign a loan
for $250,000 and the three people formed Apple Computer on April 1, 1976.

In 1978 Dan Bricklinand Bob Franston produced VisiCalc 3, the first electronic spreadsheet and the
combination of the software and PC produced an innovative business tool that was more than a typewriter
on steroids. Business found a tool that justified the investment in a PC computer.

In 1979 a new database, Vulcan, became available, and with the range of word processors, business had
collection of software that made the PC an important tool in many businesses.

As the sales of Apple increased it attracted the attention of International Business Machines (IBM). They
discovered they could build a personal computer from parts that were available from local electronic shops,
the only item missing was an operating system.

IBM approached Digital Research to negotiate a license of their operating system, but the negotiations broke
down. Microsoft was approached to supply an operating system, but they did not have any software of the
type. The found the Seattle Computer Company that had produced their own copy of a Disk Operating
System (DOS) and this was licensed to Microsoft and the contract was awarded to Microsoft by IBM in
November 19804, with the first release of an IBM PC in 1981.

The brand IBM gave credibility to the concept, and their slogan, “Nobody was fired for buying IBM” meant
that one supplier was identifiable and presented a history of success. Any reservations that business had
were removed and the PC went main stream.

Time Magazine called 1982 “The year of the computer” 5, and by 1983 there were an estimated 10 million
PCs in the United States. In 1983 the first of the Killer Applications was born when Lotus-123 became the
spreadsheet of preference and took over the market from Visicalc. Sales were huge from the start where the
original business plan estimated first year sales as 1 million and there were in fact 54 million. 6

1
http://oldcomputers.net/altair.html
2
http://cicorp.com/Apple/garage/
3
http://bricklin.com/history/intro.htm
4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft
5
http://www.ibm.com/ibm100/us/en/icons/personalcomputer/impacts/
6
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Software