Sunday, October 24, 2010

The appearance of the PC (personal computer)

Ted Hoff at Intel invented the microprocessor in 1971. At the same time, IBM invented the floppy disk as a convenient, small and cheap means of storing computer data. Now, using a single processor chip, complemented by a few memory chips and input/output devices, it was possible to create a working micro-computer. The first commercially available computer kit (the MITS Altair) duly appeared in 1975, and the Commodore PET computer was the hit of 1977. A period of intense further development of the microprocessor chip took place at Intel. The 8086 chip was released in 1979 and the 8088 in 1980.

Based on the Intel 8088 microprocessor, the IBM PC (personal computer) appeared in August 1981 . This set the standard for PCs as we know them today. The IBM PC incorporated the DOS (disk operating system) software developed by the Micro-Soft company (later renamed Microsoft) which had been set up by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975. By 1983, a new version of the IBM PC, the IBM PC XT, included a hard disk for storage of data.

Apple Computer, founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976, introduced the Macintosh computer in 1984. It revolutionised personal computing with the graphical user interface (GUI), the use of a mouse to ‘point and click’ and the opening of different ‘windows’ for different tasks. Microsoft quickly reacted by introducing a new operating system software, Microsoft Windows, in 1985. The ‘look and feel’ of Microsoft Windows were so similar to the Macintosh operating system that it led Apple Computer to file a lawsuit.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

The altair don't comes with a operating system, originally you can't do much with it, without writing assembly, until microsoft put in basic into it. The IBM PC also don't originally have a OS, but MS don't have a OS either, but they bought rights to CP/M, from Gary Kildall company. and repackage it as dos

Another note, apple don't quite just create the GUI, the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center and the one with it. Apple have a agreement with xerox to have access to the technology.

Ahmad Rais Johari said...

Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corporation, 35 F.3d 1435 (9th Cir. 1994) was a copyright infringement lawsuit in which Apple Computer, Inc. (now Apple Inc.) sought to prevent Microsoft Corporation and Hewlett-Packard from using visual graphical user interface (GUI) elements that were similar to those in Apple's Lisa and Macintosh operating systems. The court ruled that, "Apple cannot get patent-like protection for the idea of a graphical user interface, or the idea of a desktop metaphor [under copyright law]..."In the midst of the Apple v. Microsoft lawsuit, Xerox also sued Apple alleging that Mac's GUI was heavily based on Xerox's.The district court dismissed Xerox's claims without addressing whether Apple's GUI infringed Xerox's. Apple lost all claims in the Microsoft suit except for the ruling that the trash can icon and file folder icons from Hewlett-Packard's NewWave windows application were infringing. The lawsuit was filed in 1988 and lasted four years; the decision was affirmed on appeal in 1994, and Apple's appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was denied.