25 years of IBM's silent revolution

IBM may no longer make personal computers (PCs), but 25 years ago "" on August 12, 1981 "" it triggered a silent unplanned revolution when it announced the smallest and cheapest-priced computer system (IBM Personal Computer-5150), pricing it at $1,565.

An analyst was quoted as saying that "IBM bringing out a personal computer would be like teaching an elephant to tap-dance."

The system had an enhanced version of the Microsoft BASIC programming language (you have XP today and Vista to follow); an 83-key adjustable keyboard (you may laugh at it today); and 16 KB (512 MB and 1 GB are household memory names today) memory.

This was just the basic system for home use. It did not include a monitor, video card, parallel or serial port, operating system, or a floppy drive. If you wanted a 64 KB (remember Bill Gates saying this was enough?) one, including a single diskette drive (where are they today?) and display (those monitors with a greenish tinge), it would cost a little over $3,000. An expanded system for business with colour graphics, two diskette drives, and a printer would cost about $4,500.

Today, for these amounts (the value of money has changed over the years), you can buy a dozen computers with hyperthreading capabilities (HT technology) that are a hundred times faster, and store gigabytes of data and video (computers did not even have a hard drive in those days.

It started with tape storage, moved to  8-inch floppies, which got reduced to 5.25 and 3.5 inches, and have almost vanished, giving way to USB, CD and DVD drives), with tonnes of software capabilities. And Intel duo core and AMD 64 Athlons are already screaming for desktop attention.

George Paul, executive vice-president of HCL Infosystems, a company that makes PC's, said the computer had transformed life in more ways than one.

"The computer has moved from computing centres to individual homes. Now, PC's are available with multimedia facility, and have become an integral part of life. They are much more than just a computing device."

Interestingly, non-IBM PCs were available as early as the mid-1970s, first as do-it-yourself kits, and then as off-the-shelf products. They offered a few applications, but none that justified widespread use. Before the IBM PC, there were mainframes or minis, large and expensive investments that were not meant for individuals.

Since the resources were shared, computing jobs ran slowly during business hours when everyone was at work. Besides, Apple II was introduced in 1977, and the Atari 800 came out in 1979. However, these systems had proprietary components and designs.

Interestingly, by the end of 1982, qualified retail outfits were signing on to sell the new machine at the rate of one-a-day as sales actually hit a system-a-minute every business day. The Newsweek magazine called it "IBM's roaring success," and the New York Times said, "The speed and extent to which IBM has been successful has surprised many people, including IBM itself."

Looking ahead, Microsoft India Chairman Ravi Venkateshan said, "The past 25 years of the computer were about the manufacturing side. The coming 25 years will be about the user, with more and more people using computers. As far as India is concerned, we should aim to increase PC penetration."