Posted on 12/20/2024 11:07:55 AM PST by Red Badger
Days of future past................
IBM created the PC to counter the Apple computer on the mainframe operator‘s desk. IBM needed to get their ‘toy’ on the mainframe operator’ desk. That’s why they farmed out the software. IBM considered the PC was a toy. This approach almost killed IBM.
It’ll never catch on.
They bought the operating system from some nerdy guy in Seattle that lifted it from another company...............
IBM created the PC to counter the Apple computer on the mainframe operator‘s desk. IBM needed to get their ‘toy’ on the mainframe operator’ desk. That’s why they farmed out the software. IBM considered the PC was a toy. This approach almost killed IBM.
A friend of mine bought one when they first came out for something like $7000. Something like a 20MB hard drive and a 5-1/4” floppy.
She went on to get a PhD in computer science, and being an early adopter of the PC got her ahead of the curve.
I had one of those!
Purchased Spring ‘82. Financed it like a car. Served me well for years.
Back in the days of the dreaded “C\:” terrifying future apple buyers.
The IBM PC was very much outside the IBM paradigm. On its mainframes IBM would do things like have chip manufacturers create custom part numbers or even rotate the integrated circuit inside the chip package to create non-standard pin locations to prevent other companies from upgrading or maintaining IBM computers. If IBM had done that, the IBM PC would have been an interesting note in computer history. Maybe Apple would have been the main computer people used and grown to be a big company.
So many of us Generation X code jockeys say our careers begin wbefore we were old enough to drive and making a hobby out of programming either a C-64, an Atari 400 or 800, or a Tandy TRS-80 (Trash 80 we called them). I've heard only a couple of them say they started out on a Mac.
“IBM considered the PC was a toy. This approach almost killed IBM.”
Very true that. IBM culture was that the computer was a business machine. Some of the more open-minded inside the company started their move into PC world. If I have my facts correct, one of them was killed in the August 1985 flight from New Orleans to Dallas in a bad storm.
But even after their accepting the PC, IBM, and DEC too, believed that all the PC hardware had to be built in-house to be competitive. That eventually was rejected for obvious reasons. IBM’s glory is in the past .... may have peaked the day before they were hauled in court by LBJ at the end of his term for anti-competitive violations.
Apple is bigger than IBM...........
My college roommate was convinced that Commodore would run off all competitors and dominate the market.
I worked at DEC. DEC ignored the PC until too late.
As Kodak ignored the digital camera...
Much bigger.
Apple is bigger than everyone at a market cap of $3.8 trillion.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.