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How the IBM PC Changed the World

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the 25th-anniversary-special dept.

Sabah Arif writes "On August 12, 1981, IBM released the IBM PC 5150. In less than two years, IBM had created a computer that would not only change IBM, but the entire world, mostly because it did not follow IBM tradition. It used an outside microprocessor (instead of the nascent IBM 801), operating system and software. Low End Mac recounts the birth of the IBM PC 5150."

6 of 232 comments (clear)

  1. The Next Big Thing by ian_mackereth · · Score: 5, Funny
    I reckon it was the Turbo button that was the best part of early PCs.

    These days, no turbo button, so I'm stuck at a crawling 3GHz...

    1. Re:The Next Big Thing by Squarewav · · Score: 5, Informative

      I wish there was a modern version of the "Turbo" button

      for thoes that don't know.. so many games and programs were made for the 8086/8088 that when they started upping the clockspeed many games ran too fast so they implimented the turbo button so that you could slow down the cpu to make old games and such useable

      would be nice now to beable to push a button and have games from around 1995~ or so that I have lieing around playable again.. but alas that would be an interesting trick sence you'd have to impliment 3dfx voodoo 1, soundblaster and true dos in software/hardware

    2. Re:The Next Big Thing by Snover · · Score: 5, Informative

      And imagine that, they've done it. (Well, except for the Voodoo. But I bet that would happen eventually.)

      --

      [insert witty comment here]
  2. CPM by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I don't know why it is considered so great historically. CPM machines had spreadsheets and dBASE and word-processors and were doing quite well. The IBM PC stole that market and killed CPM because of the brand name. CPM would have been the base framework of the machines we use today had it not been for the IBM PC. In fact, the PC barrowed CPM-machine hardware in many cases.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
    1. Re:CPM by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 5, Informative

      CP/M was one of the OSes that IBM offered on the PC. So the PC itself didn't kill CP/M, rather it was probably Microsoft's much lower pricepoint for PC-DOS, along with all the customers who didn't feel that CP/M offered enough additional value to justify the extra cost.

  3. the x86 by phantomfive · · Score: 5, Interesting

    On the one hand, the x86 is a terrible design. It doesn't have enough registers, and the assembly interface is awkward (especially in the FPU). On the other hand, the openness of the architecture has freed us from the shackles of dependency on a single company for hardware (which DRM would like to lay back on us). If you don't like Intel, you can go to AMD. There are tons of board manufacturers to choose from, and all the parts need to be (more or less) interoperable.

    This prevents one manufacturer from imposing their wishes on us. If Microsoft had control of their personal computer platform the way apple does, we surely would have lost the battle to DRM already. Computers would be more expensive because there wouldn't be competition from cheap manufacturers in Taiwan to drive the prices down.

    The x86 may be an ugly beast, but it gives us the freedom that only openness can bring. And I will drink to that.

    --
    Qxe4