Since my first entry talking about last release of the IBM PC in 1981, this second I'll try a little more depth exactly how it was the launch, especially focusing on the relationship between Microsoft and IBM.
You may have seen the movie Pirates of Silicon Valley , where there is birth and first reports of Apple and Microsoft, which also speaks of the agreement between IBM and Microsoft to develop the operating system for the IBM PC. While this film is good to get an idea unfortunately relies too heavily on the "legends" that in reality.
IBM To understand who was in the 70's, suffice to say that Microsoft was like today, only even more powerful still. The most lucrative part of your business was (and so, still is) its division mainframes or giant machines designed for large corporations. When the 60 appeared minicomputers such as DEC PDP-1 IBM did not pay much attention to these machines, they were ridiculously limited compared to its mammoth mainframes. However, for organizations such as universities and (relatively) small businesses these minicomputers were a blessing, for though she had very limited computer did for a price considerably lower, and as worse than having a computer was not very powerful to have no computer Companies like Digital Equipment Corporation found their niche. When IBM finally saw the business opportunity was lost and "champions" to vanquish, and while no one dared to cough about IBM in the field of mainframes in the world of the thing changed and minicomputers competition was much harder and with a leader other than Big Blue , also known as IBM.
So, in the mid 70's when he started the revolution of personal computers and personal computers, IBM did not take it too seriously either, but fearing that the same thing happen again with minicomputers worked on several projects to have their own microcomputer. The year was 1975, the leading vendor with microcomputers was MITS Altair 8800 (in the attached image) and companies like Apple have not even been founded. For this scenario, IBM released the IBM 5100, a monster weighing 25 kilos, 64 kbytes of RAM, processor and monitor PALM 5 inches. I do not know what their asking price, but I suspect that IBM was being overly expensive. At that time nobody had computers for the public, mainly because personal computers were more a hobby than something of real value to a home. But of course, the IBM 5100 or even was focused on the market of computer enthusiasts, but it was basically a proof of concept for the corporate market and was not made with the idea of \u200b\u200bturning it into a mass product.
As you can see in the picture, it's a damn big and heavy pileup that was designed to be "portable" despite his 25 kilos (the black square that has the man on your left is the monitor, yes). So if we compare this computer with things like the Commodore PET, Apple II or the Radio Shack TRS-80, to name the three main models of 70, we see that could do little to compete for a place in the home. addition, for those applications did not exist then as Visicalc that could have opened a door in the corporate market, so both the computer and some subsequent projects after they found an audience to be sold.
However, in 1976 the personal computer market began to move and take off in earnest in 1977. The sector's growth was spectacular, thanks to the neglect of the major manufacturers of computers, newcomers such as Apple, Atari or Commodore found their niche market and when they entered the settlers were sufficiently large to engage in battle.
But back to IBM. Given the recent impact Personal computer makers were getting and that many of its corporate customers were buying Apple II computer with the program Visicalc , IBM designed the new design of a personal computer to sell to all these corporate customers, IBM 5150 that the public end known as the IBM PC.
talked about 1980, then the world by those of personal computers, but had a lot of publicity, was a world completely emerging minority and to some extent, so that IBM was not even a strategic project, much as the code name (Project Chess, chess in English) indicates otherwise. IBM
understood, in any case, he had no time to lose and I had to find a product (relatively) affordable with which to compete and to be ready in the shortest time possible time, namely one year. Everything that happened in that time they served the Big Blue.
Until then, IBM style had been to design and build to the last screw of their products so that each computer was 100% with its own technology from the processor, mass storage media, operating system, the printers and even programming languages \u200b\u200bused.
However, to meet the requirements Tax time, Don Estridge, the person who ran the project and who can see her photo here, had to break with this philosophy. With twelve people could not be designed, tested and mass-produce all components of a computer, however small and unambitious it was, in just one year. Thus, the IBM PC had to be built with products that may already be in the market. Thus, the IBM PC era, rather than a typical product of IBM, a kind of Frankenstein monster in a case IBM. Don Estridge had to seek at all times to major market leaders to find the components needed to assemble your computer, for such as Intel, the technological leader and at that time.
Regarding the software, again the project had neither the time nor the expertise to create an operating system and programming language in such a short time, so Estridge sought the leading developer of programming languages \u200b\u200bfor personal computers, Microsoft , requesting that carried their BASIC interpreter, the de facto standard at the time, the future computer development.
Of course, even before you even start talking about programming languages \u200b\u200band businesses, Microsoft was forced to sign confidentiality agreements draconian. At that moment, apart from IBM itself, no one outside the project knew about the existence of this, and few persons know companies that could not have dared to open his mouth to make it public. Consider that the IBM of 1980 could have the power in the world of computing power similar to Microsoft and Google all together today. And nobody, nobody would dare to ignore the call of IBM. Sorry, did I say no? Uhm ... we'll see.
The fact is that IBM wanted Microsoft BASIC to carry their personal computer were designing, and Estridge asked Bill Gates about the current status in the field of operating systems for personal computers.
Back then, the standard de facto was the CP / M Gary Kildall programmer, with whom Bill Gates had a trade agreement so that Digital Research, Gary Kildall's company, did not get into the field of programming languages, ie "private domain" of Microsoft, if Microsoft did not get into the world of operating systems.
Bill Gates was true to his agreement, directing people to IBM to Gary Kildall and CP / M and warning that this would send a very special client (obviously could not tell who customer was so special.) The legend said that when IBM employees Gary was not there and his wife refused to sign the agreements confidentiality required by IBM, so IBM people turned and left. Here you can see both Gary Kildall and his wife posing for Digital Research The fact is that negotiations, if they existed as such, did not reach any site and IBM was no real hurry to have an operating system, because was a delicate and important component that without the computer would not directly sell.
So they talked with Gates to inform you that there was no deal with Kildall and if there was a plan B. That was when Microsoft agreed to produce a complete operating system for IBM PC output in August 1981.
Again, the legend says that Microsoft bought for $ 50,000 an operating system called QDOS (Quick and Dirty acronym for Operating System), changed its name and is in turn resold it to IBM. However, the story is a bit more complicated.
While Paul Allen actually knew an engineer who had designed a very simple operating system for Intel was going to carry the IBM PC was almost almost a prototype, a proof of concept. Of course it was a good start, it is not the same start writing an operating system from scratch to start with a product that works, this is very basic. And as a result, it was the final date in August 1981 moment was released the IBM PC, one of three operating systems available for the computer was the so-called PC-DOS, which was none other than Microsoft's MS-DOS. course for Microsoft was a huge hit in charge of manufacturing their own computer operating system from IBM, because thanks to that became the industry leaders in a short time and long on the computer company's largest world over IBM itself, but at the time was a very risky bet that few people have known how to post.
For IBM, the IBM 5150 (ie the internal code of the IBM PC) was just another project. IBM is not expected to have anywhere near the success he had and all I wanted was to enter a market before it had really strong leaders as had happened with minicomputer and Digital. The project had a budget and a very specific window of time and at any time may be canceled and peace here and then glory. However, for Microsoft this project a considerable investment of own resources, as if today is vastly larger and richer in 1980 was just the opposite, and if the project was canceled what would have been really bad.
So it was not as depicted in the film Pirates of Silicon Valley , Microsoft with Bill Gates to head to search for IBM to sell an operating system that did not have, but it was all a bit coincidental and need.
0 comments:
Post a Comment