Introduction
Module 2 moved away from the acquisition of skills and moved into the history and technology behind the development of Personal Computers. The driving force and ambition of significant personalities were explored.
Hardware
It became apparent that the microprocessor, and its growing power, was the central factor in the growth of the PC industry. The most striking illustration of this is Moore's Law.
Moore's Law, which states that the number of transistors that can be placed on the same area of a microprocessor doubles every eighteen months (some texts quote it as two years). Effectively this means that the power of one microprocessor chip at one price doubles in eighteen months.
This speed of development has helped to drive the growth of the PC industry. Software packages became increasingly sophisticated.
Moore's Law has two main implications:
- The first is that computers will get increasingly powerful. This means that the sort of computer available to most people in the home or office in the future will be capable of more and more sophisticated tasks.
- The second major implication is that microprocessors become cheaper. Thus a microprocessor with a limited capability compared to whatever is currently used in new computers will be available very cheaply, perhaps for a few pence.
Personalities and Opportunity
The story behind microcomputers at this time is quite complex. Many people and many technologies interacted to form the industry. Would Bill Gates and Microsoft be so dominant if Gary Kildall had made the IBM Operating System deal?
Whatever the truth, Kildall did not make a deal with IBM, and they approached Microsoft for an operating system. Cringely's suggestion that the industry happened by accident probably has no greater example than this deal. Microsoft had no original intention of selling an operating system, but in doing so it laid the foundation for its multi-billion dollar empire. In selling MS-DOS to IBM and maintaining the rights to sell it to competitors Microsoft was sure to benefit if IBM became the market leader, or a competitor selling IBM-like machines did.
Would the Apple Macintosh have succeeded if Steve Jobs had not been inspired by the GUI seen in action at XEROX PARC?
The Alto was the first machine to use a GUI. It was never marketed and the team that created it disbanded (although PARC still exists and performs valuable research). However, the Alto was seen by a team of people from Apple in 1979 - most notably Steve Jobs, who is said to have asked incredulously 'Why don't you market this?'. When Jobs returned to Apple he set about realising the GUI operating system, as you will see later.
Compelling Applications
Graphical User Interfaces improved accessibility for non-computer professionals through its use of metaphors. Metaphors were explored more deeply in Exercise 6-Metaphors. WYSIWYG and DeskTop Publishing brought the compelling applications that were needed to fuel the demand for computers such as the Apple Macintosh.
The product that became the killer app for the Macintosh was produced by a company called Aldus, founded by Paul Brainerd. The product was called PageMaker, and it created a whole new method of working known as desktop publishing.
Open Standards and IBM
IBM, known as "Big Blue" had dominated the mainframe computer industry. IBM's entry into the PC market and their adoption of Open Standards brought about a significant phase in the industry
When IBM entered the microcomputer market many manufacturers felt that their entry would be beneficial because it would expand the market and stabilise it. Apple ran an advert which read 'Welcome IBM. Seriously.'
This led to an open standard, which made the PC the de facto standard for microcomputers. An open standard meant that the components that made the PC were bought in from outside suppliers, and their design was freely available to anyone else.
The future of the PC was in many ways set by IBM's involvement. The PC of today is not radically different from the PC of the time. More powerful, new features, faster but still built to the same core design.
