The earliest electronic computers reached fruition largely through the creative efforts of established scholars and the sponsorship of blue-chip corporations, prestigious academic institutions, and the federal government.
In stark contrast, the beginning of the microcomputer industry- perhaps the singular most important event of the fourth generation– is absolutely grass roots.
The history of microcomputers is a collage of interesting stories about bright teenagers, high-school dropouts, after-hours hobbyists tinkering in their garages or basements, shoestring budgets, speculative venture capital, and rags-to-riches enterprises.
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The microcomputer Revolution :
A good place to begin the story of microcomputers is in 1969, when an ambitious, through now defunct, Japanese company contracted with Intel, a small California firm, to build programming logic into an ordinary calculator.
The project was assigned to Marcian E. (“Ted”) Hoff, whom many called an “engineer’s engineer.” Hoff developed a general-purpose logic chip, the Intel 4004, that became known as the first microprocessor, or “computer on a chip.” Intel later became the world’s leading producer of microprocessor chips.
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Now that a computer on a chip was available, the next logical step was to develop it into a complete microcomputer system that the average person could use. One of the first noteworthy efforts in this direction came from a small group of Air Force personnel operating out of an Albuquerque garage in their off-hours.
The name of their firm was Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS). MITS initially made electronic calculators. In the early 1970s, when the bottom fell out of the calculator market, MITS turned its attention to making a kit computer to keep itself afloat.
This machine was called the Altair 8800, and it became the world’s first microcomputer system.
Most firsts in the history of computing were crude devices, and the 8800 was no exception. Users had to be knowledgeable enough to build it themselves from a kit. Moreover, it required users to code their own programs- in machine language, no less.
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MITS subsequently hired Bill Gates, a Harvard freshman, to install the BASIC programming language on the 8800. This attempt was successful, but MITS went bankrupt a few years later. Gates subsequently dropped out of Harvard and formed Microsoft Corporation, today one of the largest software producers in the world.
The Rise of Apple :
Enter Stephen G. Wozniak, or Woz, as he was known to his friends. A talented California computer enthusiast, he had dropped out of college- Fortunately for the history of microcomputing, Woz liked to build computers.
Now enter Steven Jobs, another brilliant college dropout. Jobs saw the potential in Wozniak’s work and was able to raise thousands of dollars of venture capital to support it. Thus, Apple Computer, one of the biggest success stories in modern corporate history, was born.
But Apple, which introduced its first computer in kit form in 1977, wasn’t an immediate success. It needed another verse to take its place in computer history before it would see its biggest triumphs.
On the East Coast, Harvard Business School student Dan Bricklin studiously watched his accounting professor erase large chunks of blackboard every time a single number changed in an interdependent series of calculations.
Astonished by the labor involved in the recalculations, Bricklin and Bob Frankston, a programming friend from MIT, went to work developing VisiCalc. Introduced in 1978, VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet package. It was easy to use and could do repetitive, accounting-type calculations in a snap.
With the availability of spreadsheets, businesspeople (who routinely prepare time-consuming budgets and profit-and-loss-statements) suddenly had a very compelling reason to buy microcomputers.
The first computer manufacturer to adopt VisiValc was Apple, which just recently had introduced its first preassembled computer, the Apple II. Apple II computers started selling wildly. Meanwhile, back in Armonk, New Your, IBM, the behemoth of computing corporations, was taking careful note of all these grass-roots happenings.
Enter IBM :
In 1981, IBM entered the microcomputing market with the IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC). This highly successful product immediately cut into sales of the Apple II as well as those of the other two premier microcomputer systems of the day- the Tandy/Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I and the Commodore Pet.
Although the IBM PC was a widely hailed product and was more powerful than its competitors, many people attribute the PC’s success largely to the fact that many businesspeople suddenly tool microcomputers seriously when IBM, one of the world’s largest corporations, became a player.
Meanwhile, another new firm, Lotus Development Corporation, which today is one of the world’s biggest software producers, created a spreadsheet product, 1-2-3, which became widely used on the IBM PC.
Just as VisiCalc had helped sales of the Apple II, 1-2-3 helped sell the IBM PC. During the early 1980s, a spate of firms entered the burgeoning microcomputer marketplace. So-called clone manufacturers came along to nip at the heels of IBM and Lotus, offering nearly identical products at bargain-basement prices.
Aftermarket vendors sprouted up like weeds, offering add-in or add -on products that would enhance existing major products with new features. Niche vendors also entered the picture, providing specialized products targeted to narrow ranges of needs.
The grass-roots era had suddenly vanished, and an age of aggressive competition and marketing suddenly loomed on the horizon. Today microcomputers compose the major market segment in the computer industry, outpacing all other types of computers.