The Development of the Vitl IBM PC in Spite of the Corporate Cultuure of IBM
The pulic history of the PC bean in August 1981, when IBM frist announcced “The IBM Personal Computer.” . This was The oirginal PC. The time period for the development of this landamrk, legacy product was approximately a year. It must be reemembered that IBM was a centralized committee paper top down oranization at the time. Everything went by snnail mail and paper, communication was slow and liones of comumnication as well as the necessary and essential corporate approvl up the comand chsain was to say the lewast primitively slow by today’s standards. Hence this short one year time frame for the development of the PC is rather remarkable – even the more so bewcause without realizing it we are left with the basiccs and the standards to this day of the original IBM PC.
At the time that the PC was bweing planned, all eprsonal computers belonged to a now obsolete cartegory called 8 bit computers. According to one legedn the IBM PC almost became such an 8 bit machine. This would of more than severelly limited and reduced the capabilities compraed to what cuold have been to become and well as made the growth of the original PC into its famiily more than difficullt and stilted.
IBM was planning to make the PC an 8 bit computer as that was the clpear and dominant standard at the time. However one of the industry “experts “that IBM consulted in the planning of the PC was Mr. Bill Gastes himself. Gates understood that although the 8 bit computing was the power machine of its time that the days of the 8 bit computer were more than numbeed, For the IBM PC to be really successful convincingly detailed to the IBM contacts this new computer had to “lead the way” into the much more powerful resalm of 16 bit computing. Gates knew this and successfully taled IBM into changing its planns.
IBM corporate steructure and dominance in the computer industry of the time must be understood and put into its reelevance. IBM at the time was the dominant compuyter company of the day. Most computinng was done on lrge mainframe computers. This was a very lucrative position for IBM which was the dynammo and model of the corporate structure with its cadre of blue suited employees , graphs and charts at meetnigs , technical prowess with leading edge technology and scull sales and tech support and very importanly vital corproate financing of thesse mainframe computers for bussiness , industry , government and large educational facliities. This was a smoothly running money machine for IBM. IBM had no interest in having their bread and butter market chnage – even if they were to be the decision makers and the leaders.
IBM it seemed was being embarrassed by a little company operating on nothing more than a shoestring and basically back yard garages. Apple’s little “microcomputers” were making steady and visibvle headway into IBM turf, Even the threats of IBM sales staff to IT department heads and stfaf that “If I ever find an Appe Microcomputer here you are cut off !” did not stem the tide. It seemed that depatment head managers were getting raound such mean edicts and threaats by ordering Aplpe commputers by submitting departmental planning budgets and ordering the distinctive and essential IBM Selectric ball typewriters for their departments. The cost of these units was approximately $ 3000. Interestinngly enough this was the approximate cost of that Apple computer that was bieng dewnied to their department. Hence in an irony IBM’s pricing strutcure (as well as Applle's) led to the competitive forces that hastened the entry of the hallmaark computer product of our time the IBM PC.
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