1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Get in tech with technology with tech Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:13,800 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:17,280 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer at 4 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:20,479 Speaker 1: how Stuff Works and I love all things tech. And 5 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:23,560 Speaker 1: in the last few episodes, I've covered the early days 6 00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:27,120 Speaker 1: of personal computers now. I started with an episode dedicated 7 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:30,360 Speaker 1: to computer systems that were unable to establish a permanent 8 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:34,599 Speaker 1: foothold in the market, so ones that kind of rose up, 9 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:37,000 Speaker 1: and they were some of them were really really popular 10 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:39,640 Speaker 1: in the early days, but they weren't able to become 11 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:44,120 Speaker 1: a defining personal computer and they are no longer around today. 12 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 1: You can't go out and buy a brand new one. 13 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:50,400 Speaker 1: You could buy emulators, you can buy recreations of them. 14 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:53,080 Speaker 1: You could probably find some of them on eBay, but 15 00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:54,800 Speaker 1: you're not going to go and buy like a two 16 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:58,959 Speaker 1: thousand eighteen version of those machines anymore. Then I did 17 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:01,840 Speaker 1: a couple of episodes aka to how Apple managed to 18 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:05,400 Speaker 1: avoid that same fate. Obviously you can go out and 19 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:09,639 Speaker 1: buy an Apple computer. They're called Max now. But today 20 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:12,480 Speaker 1: we're going to turn our attention to IBM and its 21 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:16,800 Speaker 1: role in defining the modern PC. Because when we say PC, 22 00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:20,240 Speaker 1: most of us mean a Windows based machine. People tend 23 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:23,720 Speaker 1: to call the two different types of computers out there, 24 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 1: the two broad different types of computers out there, MAX 25 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:30,959 Speaker 1: or PCs, and when they say PC, they generally mean 26 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:35,119 Speaker 1: something that's running Windows. Now, that's obviously an over generalization. 27 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 1: There are other operating systems out there. I've talked about 28 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:41,160 Speaker 1: that before. Their Unix, there's Linux distributions, there's all sorts 29 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:44,560 Speaker 1: of stuff. But for the average person, it comes down 30 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:48,440 Speaker 1: to a MAC or PC. So how did IBM end 31 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 1: up defining what a PC is? And why isn't IBM 32 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:56,640 Speaker 1: still in that market? Well, before I dive in, I 33 00:01:56,680 --> 00:01:58,639 Speaker 1: have to say that while I have used a ton 34 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 1: of sources to put this show together, there was one 35 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:05,600 Speaker 1: that was more valuable than any of the others, and 36 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:08,640 Speaker 1: that was a series of articles, two articles actually written 37 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:12,920 Speaker 1: by Jimmy Maher for Ours Technica, and it's called the 38 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:18,600 Speaker 1: Complete History of the IBM PC, and it's fantastic. I 39 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:21,040 Speaker 1: highly recommend you read those articles to get a better 40 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:23,639 Speaker 1: idea about what was going on at this time. Now, 41 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 1: IBM was a true powerhouse, a multibillion dollar company well 42 00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:33,600 Speaker 1: before the PC era, and it behooves us to do 43 00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:37,480 Speaker 1: a quick dive into IBMS history. I've done full episodes 44 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 1: about the history of IBM. It is a long and 45 00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:43,560 Speaker 1: complicated history. It's fascinating as well. I'm gonna give you 46 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:46,480 Speaker 1: sort of the cliffs notes version for this particular episode. 47 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:50,919 Speaker 1: So IBM traces its history back to the Computer Tabulating 48 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:55,120 Speaker 1: Record Company, which was founded in nineteen eleven, but even 49 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:59,080 Speaker 1: that doesn't really get back to the beginning of IBM. Sure, 50 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: the Peuter Tabulating Record Company would eventually become IBM, but 51 00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:08,359 Speaker 1: that company, that being Computer Tabulating Record Company, which will 52 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: just call CTR, that gets way too to complicated. Otherwise, 53 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:15,840 Speaker 1: that was actually an amalgamation of other companies. It was 54 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:19,359 Speaker 1: a sort of a merger of three to four companies, 55 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: depending upon how you look at it. So that includes 56 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:28,040 Speaker 1: the International Time Recording Company, the Computing Scale Company, and 57 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:33,000 Speaker 1: the Tabulating Machine Company, as well as the Bundy Manufacturing Company. 58 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: And I'll get into why that gets a little complicated 59 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:37,760 Speaker 1: in just a second. So those companies, in turn have 60 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:41,040 Speaker 1: been around in one form or another since the late 61 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:44,119 Speaker 1: nineteenth century. So if you're really picky, you can say 62 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:47,560 Speaker 1: that IBM kind of traces its history back to before 63 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:51,360 Speaker 1: the turn of the twentieth century. The International Time Recording 64 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:54,680 Speaker 1: Company started off as the Bundy Manufacturing Company in the 65 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:57,720 Speaker 1: eighteen eighties in New York, and that was named after 66 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:01,960 Speaker 1: its founder, Willard L. Bundy, who invented and patented mechanical 67 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 1: time recorders. Now technically, the manufacturing aspect of the Bundy 68 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:10,080 Speaker 1: Manufacturing Company remained sort of separate from everything else and 69 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 1: was lumped in with this general merger that would form 70 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:16,880 Speaker 1: the predecessor to IBM. The Computer Scale Company launched in 71 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:20,359 Speaker 1: eight when two businessmen in Ohio had the notion to 72 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:24,560 Speaker 1: purchase some patents that were related to the computing scale 73 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:26,960 Speaker 1: technology that was brand new at the time, and they 74 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:30,599 Speaker 1: created an enterprise out of it. The Tabulating Machine Company 75 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:35,240 Speaker 1: was originally known as the hollow Earth Electric Tabulating System, 76 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:39,120 Speaker 1: named after Herman Hollowrath, its founder. In eighteen ninety six, 77 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:43,360 Speaker 1: Hollowrath formed the Tabulating Machine Company. His business really centered 78 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:47,360 Speaker 1: on punched card systems and readers, so not really computers, 79 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:50,880 Speaker 1: but tabulating devices that used punch cards to tabulate stuff. 80 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:53,440 Speaker 1: He had actually used that in an effort to streamline 81 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:56,760 Speaker 1: the process of going through the results from the US 82 00:04:56,760 --> 00:05:00,279 Speaker 1: Census in eighteen nine at that stage, you had a 83 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:03,839 Speaker 1: population that was getting so big that figuring out what 84 00:05:03,960 --> 00:05:07,400 Speaker 1: all the different results were took an enormous amount of 85 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:09,560 Speaker 1: time and a lot of hard work doing it all 86 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:12,040 Speaker 1: by hand. So he had come up with this more 87 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:15,080 Speaker 1: or less automated approach using punch cards and a machine 88 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:19,920 Speaker 1: capable of quickly reading those punch cards. Together, those companies 89 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:23,599 Speaker 1: merged into a new one in nineteen eleven through this 90 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:27,680 Speaker 1: stock amalgamation process. But that does not magically mean that 91 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:30,640 Speaker 1: everything will work smoothly, as I'm sure some of you 92 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:34,440 Speaker 1: have experienced firsthand if you've ever been through a merger, 93 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:36,480 Speaker 1: if you've worked for a company that has merged or 94 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:41,560 Speaker 1: acquired another company. Charles Randlet Flint was the guy who 95 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:44,640 Speaker 1: had headed these efforts. He was the man behind this 96 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:49,240 Speaker 1: stock amalgamation process emerging all the companies, and he realized 97 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:52,120 Speaker 1: that this massive beast he had created was a bit 98 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:55,040 Speaker 1: beyond his own abilities to lead. It had more than 99 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:57,719 Speaker 1: a thousand employees, and of course it had very diverse 100 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:03,080 Speaker 1: business processes across us the various businesses. The chairman for 101 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 1: the new company was a guy named George Winthrop Fairchild. 102 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:10,760 Speaker 1: But Fairchild was also a congressman and so he was 103 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:13,680 Speaker 1: largely absent from the operations of the company. They needed 104 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 1: to find somebody else. Eventually, a businessman named Thomas J. Watson, 105 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:22,080 Speaker 1: whose last name would go on to become the name 106 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 1: of IBM s artificially intelligent application platform. Watson stepped up 107 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:28,840 Speaker 1: to Flint and said, Hey, I would like to get 108 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:32,599 Speaker 1: a job running a business. I feel like I really 109 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:36,960 Speaker 1: could do some great things. Watson had at that time 110 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:41,480 Speaker 1: whether a pretty rough storm due to being accused, tried, 111 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:48,080 Speaker 1: and initially convicted of unfair business practices essentially anti trust laws. Now, 112 00:06:48,120 --> 00:06:51,719 Speaker 1: he would never end up serving out a prison sentence. 113 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:55,840 Speaker 1: The court would eventually overturn this conviction, but his reputation 114 00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:59,839 Speaker 1: among the public despite this legal issue, was extremely strong. 115 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:02,880 Speaker 1: Was known as someone who was very supportive in the community. 116 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:09,360 Speaker 1: So while he had cutthroat business uh strategies and and instincts, 117 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:12,480 Speaker 1: he was also someone who would give back to the 118 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:15,880 Speaker 1: communities he belonged to. Flint would end up naming Watson 119 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:19,400 Speaker 1: the general manager for CTR, and a little less than 120 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:22,480 Speaker 1: a year later, when all the trial business was resolved, 121 00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:26,840 Speaker 1: the board would name him the president of CTR. Now 122 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:30,480 Speaker 1: CTR would remain the name of the company until nineteen 123 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:33,720 Speaker 1: twenty four, when Watson would officially give it a new 124 00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:40,120 Speaker 1: moniker International Business Machines or IBM. Throughout its history, it 125 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 1: would primarily focus on business to business operations, so, in 126 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:47,480 Speaker 1: other words, IBM would make the machines that other businesses 127 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:51,840 Speaker 1: depended upon to get work done for their customers. IBM 128 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:55,000 Speaker 1: was not in the business of creating stuff for the 129 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:58,440 Speaker 1: average consumer. So when IBM was working on something, it 130 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:01,000 Speaker 1: wasn't for people like you and me. It was for 131 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:04,240 Speaker 1: big companies so that they could do the businesses that 132 00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:07,120 Speaker 1: you know, whatever it was that they did, and so 133 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:11,560 Speaker 1: they might have a forward facing uh side to them 134 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:14,880 Speaker 1: where they would have contact with customers, but IBM didn't. 135 00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:19,680 Speaker 1: Their customers were other companies. IBM grew larger and more 136 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:24,120 Speaker 1: powerful and became a leading name in business machines, and 137 00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:27,600 Speaker 1: it all started with mechanical devices, but eventually transition to 138 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:33,160 Speaker 1: electronic and then microchip technologies. In the nineteen forties, IBM 139 00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:37,160 Speaker 1: would partner with Harvard University to build the company's first computer, 140 00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:40,439 Speaker 1: although most people refer to it as Harvard's first computer, 141 00:08:40,840 --> 00:08:45,520 Speaker 1: known as the Mark one or the Automated Sequence Controlled Calculator. 142 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:50,120 Speaker 1: This was an enormous electro mechanical computer. So in other words, 143 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:53,679 Speaker 1: I had electric parts, electronic parts rather and mechanical parts. 144 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:56,440 Speaker 1: And it played a very important role with several war 145 00:08:56,559 --> 00:09:00,920 Speaker 1: related calculations in the nineteen forties, including some designed by 146 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:04,719 Speaker 1: John von Neumann as part of the Manhattan Project. That's 147 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:08,000 Speaker 1: the project that developed the atomic bomb. It had seven 148 00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:12,040 Speaker 1: hundred sixty five thousand components and more than one hundred 149 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:15,480 Speaker 1: miles of wire and cable. So obviously this was not 150 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:18,400 Speaker 1: a home computer, although I guess if you were desperate 151 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:21,280 Speaker 1: you could maybe cut a hole in it and make 152 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:24,520 Speaker 1: it a home but still not quite the same thing 153 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:27,200 Speaker 1: as what we mean when we say home computer. In 154 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:31,280 Speaker 1: ninety two, Thomas J. Watson Jr. Would become the president 155 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:35,679 Speaker 1: of IBM and thus began the golden age of the company. 156 00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:39,600 Speaker 1: The engineers IBM did groundbreaking work, including creating the first 157 00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:43,800 Speaker 1: commercial hard disk drive. By the nineteen sixties, IBM was 158 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:47,320 Speaker 1: a leader in producing massive computers for businesses to help 159 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:49,800 Speaker 1: them manage their data, and at this point, no one 160 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:54,040 Speaker 1: would dream of owning their own home computer. Even after 161 00:09:54,080 --> 00:09:57,880 Speaker 1: the invention of the transistor, these machines were still pretty 162 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:00,040 Speaker 1: darn massive, and they would take up an entire a 163 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:03,520 Speaker 1: room of your house. In the early nineteen seventies, as 164 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:07,240 Speaker 1: the first computer hobbyists were experimenting with building their own 165 00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:10,600 Speaker 1: basic computing machines for home use, IBM began to create 166 00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:13,600 Speaker 1: a platform that would evolve into their own personal computer 167 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:17,640 Speaker 1: line of machines. A decade later, and IBM manager named 168 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:21,400 Speaker 1: Paul Friedel invented this platform, and it was called the 169 00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:26,480 Speaker 1: Special Computer a p L Machine Portable or SCAMP. A 170 00:10:26,640 --> 00:10:30,680 Speaker 1: PO by the way, stands for a programming language real 171 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:34,880 Speaker 1: descriptive there that was actually designed by Kenneth e Iverson 172 00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:38,840 Speaker 1: back in the nineteen sixties. SCAMP was a research project 173 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:42,760 Speaker 1: meant to create a single user computer. Now, computers in 174 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:46,440 Speaker 1: those days were generally meant for multiple users. This was 175 00:10:46,559 --> 00:10:50,680 Speaker 1: the main frame approach. You would have a centralized, very 176 00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:54,360 Speaker 1: powerful mainframe computer, and you would have one or more 177 00:10:54,440 --> 00:10:57,680 Speaker 1: terminals connected to that mainframe. Typically you would have more 178 00:10:57,720 --> 00:11:00,360 Speaker 1: than one, and these terminals acted as a point of 179 00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:05,319 Speaker 1: communication between the users and the computers processing units, which 180 00:11:05,559 --> 00:11:08,520 Speaker 1: weren't really microchips at this point. They were typically large 181 00:11:08,559 --> 00:11:12,840 Speaker 1: circuit boards. These computers used a strategy called time sharing, 182 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:16,440 Speaker 1: which gave the illusion that everyone was working on this 183 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:21,920 Speaker 1: mainframe simultaneously, but in actuality the computer would switch from 184 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:25,440 Speaker 1: one terminal to another to run processes, but it would 185 00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:27,240 Speaker 1: do so at a rate that was fast enough to 186 00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:30,280 Speaker 1: at least give the implication that everyone was working on 187 00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:34,640 Speaker 1: the same machine simultaneously rather than sequentially. SCAMP was a 188 00:11:34,679 --> 00:11:39,400 Speaker 1: departure from this model. Two IBM laboratories in Silicon Valley, 189 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:44,360 Speaker 1: the IBM Scientific Center and the Advanced Systems Development Lab, 190 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:48,240 Speaker 1: were top secret and given an open sandbox to play 191 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:52,520 Speaker 1: in to develop new technologies that could potentially be commercially useful. So, 192 00:11:52,559 --> 00:11:55,839 Speaker 1: in other words, the engineers at these centers didn't have 193 00:11:55,960 --> 00:11:59,959 Speaker 1: to worry about improving existing systems or making the next 194 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:02,960 Speaker 1: big computer that IBM was going to sell. They could 195 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:07,560 Speaker 1: instead think further out and experiment with different concepts that 196 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:10,520 Speaker 1: had no real place in the market at that time 197 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:14,640 Speaker 1: but could potentially be valuable later on. And SCAMP grew 198 00:12:14,679 --> 00:12:18,960 Speaker 1: out of that environment. In nineteen two, Dr Paul Friedl, 199 00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:22,320 Speaker 1: who was a manager at the Scientific Center, wanted to 200 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:26,560 Speaker 1: build a personal portable IBM computer, meaning a single use 201 00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:29,560 Speaker 1: computer that you can move from place to place. Dr 202 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:33,560 Speaker 1: Friedel made a plan to build SCAMP within six months 203 00:12:34,080 --> 00:12:37,439 Speaker 1: and then have it ready to demonstrate to IBM executives. 204 00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:41,559 Speaker 1: The executives, when presented with the idea, said wouldn't that 205 00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:47,080 Speaker 1: be something, which became scamps motto. Another IBM employee named 206 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:50,480 Speaker 1: Joe George headed up the hardware team to build SCAMP. 207 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:54,720 Speaker 1: With six months to start and finish and demo a project, 208 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:57,880 Speaker 1: the team was under the gun to prove their concept 209 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:01,560 Speaker 1: was tenable, so they didn't really have much of a choice. 210 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:05,160 Speaker 1: They decided to go with many off the shelf components 211 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:08,760 Speaker 1: because there just wasn't time to develop everything in house 212 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:12,480 Speaker 1: from scratch. The whole point was to demonstrate if the 213 00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:15,640 Speaker 1: concept was possible after all, not to create a product 214 00:13:15,720 --> 00:13:19,160 Speaker 1: that would ever see the light of day outside of IBM. 215 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:23,320 Speaker 1: Six months after those initial discussions, the team actually did 216 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:27,160 Speaker 1: have something to show off to IBM executives. The SCAMP 217 00:13:27,440 --> 00:13:31,359 Speaker 1: was in a case that resembled a briefcase, had a keyboard, 218 00:13:31,679 --> 00:13:35,160 Speaker 1: it had a CRT display, and used a cassette tape 219 00:13:35,240 --> 00:13:38,520 Speaker 1: drive for media storage. So, in other words, this machine 220 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:42,520 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy three was already taking a form factor 221 00:13:42,559 --> 00:13:45,200 Speaker 1: that wouldn't be seen in the hobbyist world. For another 222 00:13:45,400 --> 00:13:49,080 Speaker 1: couple of years. The team gave multiple demonstrations of the 223 00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:52,400 Speaker 1: SCAMP concept at IBM and received a lot of interest. 224 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:55,600 Speaker 1: At the final demonstration, the one that was going to 225 00:13:55,679 --> 00:13:59,680 Speaker 1: decide the fate of pursuing a single user computer strategy, 226 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:04,240 Speaker 1: it happened here in my hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, at 227 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:07,880 Speaker 1: the Marriott Downtown. Dr Friedel even tells a great story 228 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:11,080 Speaker 1: about this, how he showed up late to the demonstration 229 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:13,600 Speaker 1: because he got lost on the highway because, as he 230 00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:16,400 Speaker 1: said in the video, there are just too many roads 231 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:21,520 Speaker 1: in Atlanta called Peach Tree, which is absolutely true. Despite 232 00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:25,120 Speaker 1: his late arrival, the demonstration went really well. Dr Freedle 233 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:28,280 Speaker 1: showed off SCAMP to the IBM president, who at that 234 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:32,080 Speaker 1: time was John Opele. The demo went off without any glitches. 235 00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:35,040 Speaker 1: They didn't have any hardware failures or software hang ups, 236 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:38,840 Speaker 1: nothing like that. Following the demonstration was a presentation about 237 00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:41,680 Speaker 1: how much money it would cost to fund the project. 238 00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:44,640 Speaker 1: Opal was so impressed he said, if it was up 239 00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:47,200 Speaker 1: to me, I'd go four and a half million dollars 240 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:50,080 Speaker 1: over the budget you're asking for. And that was enough 241 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:53,200 Speaker 1: for Dr Freedle to secure a commitment to move forward. 242 00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:56,280 Speaker 1: SCAMP would become the starting point of the path that 243 00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:59,880 Speaker 1: would eventually lead to the IBM fIF fifty a k a. 244 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:04,800 Speaker 1: The IBM Personal Computer. SCAMP, by the way, would eventually 245 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:08,760 Speaker 1: emerge from the depths of IBM's secret laboratories. It became 246 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:12,800 Speaker 1: part of a Smithsonian exhibit on information technology and went 247 00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:17,160 Speaker 1: on display to the public. But we're not quite at 248 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:20,760 Speaker 1: the IBM PC era yet. IBM had a couple of 249 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:24,440 Speaker 1: other computers in the one hundred line that would precede 250 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:27,840 Speaker 1: the first personal computer from the company, and the first 251 00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:32,880 Speaker 1: of those, the actual IBMFT, was quite the beast. IBM 252 00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:37,000 Speaker 1: started selling this descendant of the Scamp in nineteen five, 253 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:40,240 Speaker 1: a year before Apple would debut, and around the same 254 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:42,880 Speaker 1: time the hobbyists were getting their hands on the Altaire 255 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:45,800 Speaker 1: eight hundred. I've got a lot more to say about 256 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:49,040 Speaker 1: the IBM in just a second, but first let's take 257 00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:59,920 Speaker 1: a quick break to thank our sponsor. The IBM was 258 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:03,640 Speaker 1: not a computer built for the home user, but rather 259 00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:08,800 Speaker 1: for engineers and mathematicians. It was called a portable computer, 260 00:16:09,040 --> 00:16:11,800 Speaker 1: but you really probably wouldn't want to lug it around 261 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:17,840 Speaker 1: because it weighed about fifty five pounds, or wasn't just 262 00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:21,840 Speaker 1: bulky it was a little peculiar. Rather than relying on 263 00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:27,520 Speaker 1: a microprocessor to act as CPU, spread processor duties across 264 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:31,640 Speaker 1: an entire circuit board using an IBM developed technology called 265 00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:35,960 Speaker 1: palm p a l M. It had sixteen kilobytes of 266 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:38,720 Speaker 1: RAM at its base model, and it used a tape 267 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:42,160 Speaker 1: drive for storing media and loading programs. It had a 268 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:45,280 Speaker 1: five inch computer screen and a keyboard, and it would 269 00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:50,440 Speaker 1: set you back about ten thousand dollars. Like I said, 270 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:53,160 Speaker 1: these were not intended as computers for the home. This 271 00:16:53,280 --> 00:16:57,640 Speaker 1: was for people who were doing scientific research or engineering, 272 00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:01,080 Speaker 1: so it was not some thing that you're going to 273 00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:04,119 Speaker 1: play games on. It just didn't follow the main frame 274 00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:08,200 Speaker 1: terminal form factor that you had seen in previous computers 275 00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:11,720 Speaker 1: from IBM. So this was a very specific use computer. 276 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:15,600 Speaker 1: The idea being scientists in the field or mathematicians who 277 00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:18,240 Speaker 1: needed to have a computer that they could potentially bring 278 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:21,000 Speaker 1: to another location and not just have in a big 279 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:26,040 Speaker 1: research laboratory. IBM would refine their design in two updates. 280 00:17:26,320 --> 00:17:30,080 Speaker 1: There was the IBM fifty one ten and the IBM 281 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:34,439 Speaker 1: fifty one twenty. These were general office computers, so no 282 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:38,240 Speaker 1: longer scientific research machines, but office machines. They were marketed 283 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:41,159 Speaker 1: as being the machines the company would invest in in 284 00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:44,480 Speaker 1: order to do stuff like accounting, or data management or 285 00:17:44,520 --> 00:17:49,240 Speaker 1: word processing. IBM announced the fifty one ten in nineteen 286 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:53,960 Speaker 1: seventy eight, and it could support more peripherals than could 287 00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:57,160 Speaker 1: the one that came out before it, including a peripheral 288 00:17:57,200 --> 00:18:00,960 Speaker 1: called the IBM fifty one fourteen would was an external 289 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:05,480 Speaker 1: dual eight inch floppy drive, so floppy disk drive that 290 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:08,680 Speaker 1: could take eight inch floppy disks. You might not remember 291 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:11,080 Speaker 1: that there were such things. They weren't really used in 292 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:14,520 Speaker 1: personal computers. They were used in these business machines, and 293 00:18:14,800 --> 00:18:17,160 Speaker 1: by the time the personal computer floppy discs came around, 294 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:19,800 Speaker 1: they were more frequently the five and a quarter size 295 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:22,080 Speaker 1: and then later on three and a half inch size. 296 00:18:22,359 --> 00:18:26,360 Speaker 1: The entry level fifty one ten, which supported the Basic 297 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:31,000 Speaker 1: programming language only and had sixteen kilobytes of RAM, would 298 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:35,159 Speaker 1: cost eight thousand, four hundred seventy five dollars. But if 299 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:38,320 Speaker 1: you wanted a top of the line sixty four kilobyte 300 00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:41,119 Speaker 1: machine capable of running both Basic and the a p 301 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:45,440 Speaker 1: L programming language, that would set you back fifteen thousand, 302 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:49,280 Speaker 1: seven hundred twenty five dollars. The computer had an all 303 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:52,920 Speaker 1: in one form factor. The keyboard and display were all 304 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:56,520 Speaker 1: part of the case. The display screen was still five 305 00:18:56,560 --> 00:18:59,520 Speaker 1: inches and it was monochromatic, and it still relied on 306 00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:06,560 Speaker 1: the processor, that circuit board processor that had twenty followed 307 00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:09,520 Speaker 1: in the winter of Night, and it was another all 308 00:19:09,560 --> 00:19:12,760 Speaker 1: in one machine with a keyboard and monitor all part 309 00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:15,600 Speaker 1: of the same case. It also shipped with two floppy 310 00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:19,400 Speaker 1: disk drives standard they accepted those eight inch floppy disks 311 00:19:19,480 --> 00:19:22,679 Speaker 1: I talked about a second ago. The display, however, was larger. 312 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:26,800 Speaker 1: It measured nine inches, and the components in the twenty 313 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:34,159 Speaker 1: made the heavy heaviest desktop computer ever was a massive heavyweight. 314 00:19:34,359 --> 00:19:39,000 Speaker 1: It weighed a hundred and five pounds or forty eight ms. 315 00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:43,200 Speaker 1: The full computer system included not just the computer, which 316 00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:47,440 Speaker 1: was technically a fifteen Model three, but also an external 317 00:19:47,480 --> 00:19:51,119 Speaker 1: diskette unit and a dot Matrix printer. So the price 318 00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:54,080 Speaker 1: range for that computer system, because keep in minds more 319 00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:57,639 Speaker 1: than just that one computer started at nine thousand, three 320 00:19:58,119 --> 00:20:01,040 Speaker 1: forty dollars, and if you wanted to completely tricked out, 321 00:20:01,080 --> 00:20:04,600 Speaker 1: it would go all the way up to twenty three thousand, 322 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:09,840 Speaker 1: nine hundred ninety bucks for that computer system. Yikes. Now 323 00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:13,000 Speaker 1: that line of computers at least a name would continue 324 00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:16,359 Speaker 1: to the fifty one fifty PC which was released in 325 00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:20,840 Speaker 1: But before that, there's another computer from IBM that I 326 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:24,400 Speaker 1: need to mention, and it was not part of the line, 327 00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:28,439 Speaker 1: but was an important step toward the personal computer. And 328 00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:32,040 Speaker 1: this was the System slash twenty three Data Master or 329 00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:35,040 Speaker 1: just data Master for short, and I think that's an 330 00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:38,280 Speaker 1: awesome name for a computer. The Data Master was the 331 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:43,560 Speaker 1: first desktop computer designed by IBM to feature a microprocessor 332 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:47,480 Speaker 1: instead of that circuit board with the Palm processor that 333 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:51,120 Speaker 1: IBM had been using. The Data Master had an Intel 334 00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:55,240 Speaker 1: eight eighty five as its central processing unit. Like the 335 00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:58,320 Speaker 1: fifty one twenty, it was heavy. It weighed ninety five 336 00:20:58,359 --> 00:21:01,760 Speaker 1: pounds or forty three kilo rams. Now, despite the fact 337 00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:03,960 Speaker 1: that it weighed so much and that it was meant 338 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:07,119 Speaker 1: for an office environment, the fact it had a micro 339 00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:11,120 Speaker 1: processor and it meant that technically speaking, it fell into 340 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:15,240 Speaker 1: the category of micro computer. While IBM announced the Data 341 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:19,439 Speaker 1: Master in nineteen seventy eight, the computer didn't debut until July. 342 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:25,680 Speaker 1: IBM would announce the PC just a month later, which 343 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:28,800 Speaker 1: sort of resulted in folks forgetting about the Data Master. 344 00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:33,040 Speaker 1: Between the Data Master's announcement and when it launched, something 345 00:21:33,080 --> 00:21:36,439 Speaker 1: else interesting happened. IBM got a little visit from a 346 00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:41,400 Speaker 1: company called Atari. At this stage, Atari had already launched 347 00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:45,439 Speaker 1: the VCS game system that's essentially they hundred, and it 348 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:48,680 Speaker 1: had also launched the Atari four hundred and Atari eight 349 00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:51,840 Speaker 1: hundred computer systems. You can listen to the computers that 350 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:55,560 Speaker 1: time forgot to learn more about those. Anyway. Atari made 351 00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:58,280 Speaker 1: a move to suggest that it could design a computer 352 00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:02,359 Speaker 1: for the home market on behalf of IBM, saying, hey, 353 00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:05,080 Speaker 1: you guys are really in there when it comes to 354 00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:09,520 Speaker 1: businesses and research facilities and and government installations and all 355 00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:11,400 Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. If you want to get into 356 00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:14,320 Speaker 1: the home higher us, we can totally build that computer 357 00:22:14,359 --> 00:22:16,960 Speaker 1: for you, guys. The chairman of IBM at that time 358 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:20,280 Speaker 1: was a guy named Frank Carey, and he relaid the 359 00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:23,920 Speaker 1: offer to a fellow named Bill Low that was ibm 360 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:27,199 Speaker 1: s director of Entry Systems. Low took it to a 361 00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:31,920 Speaker 1: management committee and collectively they decided that this proposal from 362 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:36,560 Speaker 1: Atari was bonkers. I might be paraphrasing a little bit, 363 00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:39,600 Speaker 1: but the management team also knew that the chairman was 364 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:42,919 Speaker 1: really interested in this idea, so they told Low he 365 00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:45,600 Speaker 1: should go form a team, come up with a proposal 366 00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:50,040 Speaker 1: for an IBM personal computer that did not involve Atari 367 00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:53,240 Speaker 1: at all, and then submit that to the committee within 368 00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:56,600 Speaker 1: a month. So Low went out and formed a team 369 00:22:56,600 --> 00:22:59,280 Speaker 1: out of about a dozen or so engineers to work 370 00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:02,760 Speaker 1: on this project. He also contacted Bill Gates and Steve 371 00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:06,560 Speaker 1: Bamber of Microsoft to discuss their collaboration and a hypothetical 372 00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:09,840 Speaker 1: personal computer. This was a big deal for Microsoft, which 373 00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:13,359 Speaker 1: was already a successful company but stood to receive substantial 374 00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:16,719 Speaker 1: benefits if IBM were to partner with them. Here was 375 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:21,119 Speaker 1: this corporate giant leader in the industry, something that had 376 00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:25,240 Speaker 1: been around for essentially a century if you trace the 377 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:28,720 Speaker 1: history back to the predecessor companies at any rate, and 378 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:32,320 Speaker 1: they were reaching out to what was effectively a startup 379 00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:36,320 Speaker 1: software company that wasn't even a decade old yet. Bill 380 00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:39,000 Speaker 1: Gates met with a guy named Jack Sam's who was 381 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:43,000 Speaker 1: IBM's head of software development, and together they talked about 382 00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:46,199 Speaker 1: the PC market. Sam's was really interested in that Gates 383 00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:49,520 Speaker 1: had his finger on the pulse of that market, and 384 00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:52,159 Speaker 1: he talked about the trends that were emerging in this 385 00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:56,520 Speaker 1: still very young Field. Sam's reported back to Low and 386 00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:58,439 Speaker 1: the rest of the team, and they put together a 387 00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:03,680 Speaker 1: proposal for I b M personal computers. The proposal identified 388 00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:08,560 Speaker 1: Intel as the best source for microchip processors. At the time, 389 00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:13,200 Speaker 1: most personal computers were depending upon one of two major chips. 390 00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:17,080 Speaker 1: There was the six zero two from Most Technologies, which 391 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:20,560 Speaker 1: was owned by Commodore, or the Z eight from Zylog. 392 00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:23,959 Speaker 1: But these chips were already starting to brush up against 393 00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:27,639 Speaker 1: their technical limitations, and IBM wanted a system that would 394 00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:31,120 Speaker 1: not immediately be too underpowered to run the latest software. 395 00:24:31,119 --> 00:24:33,640 Speaker 1: They wanted to future proof a little bit, so they 396 00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:38,040 Speaker 1: went with the Intel eight chip as the CPU. This 397 00:24:38,119 --> 00:24:40,919 Speaker 1: was more expensive, but it was also more powerful than 398 00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:44,040 Speaker 1: the other microchips available in the market. The team also 399 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:47,479 Speaker 1: opted to go for a modular approach with the fifty 400 00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:51,000 Speaker 1: one fifty. By modular approach, some people would call this 401 00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:55,199 Speaker 1: an open architecture. The computer they created started as a 402 00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:59,520 Speaker 1: foundation upon which the customer could build the machine he 403 00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:04,679 Speaker 1: or she needed, using essentially interchangeable components. So a lot 404 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:07,320 Speaker 1: of computers that were on the market, what you saw 405 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:09,960 Speaker 1: was what you got. They might have some expansion slots 406 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:12,840 Speaker 1: and you could perhaps put some additional cards in those 407 00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:17,280 Speaker 1: expansion slots, but generally speaking, you couldn't really swap out 408 00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:20,679 Speaker 1: components easily. IBM wanted to go a different way. They 409 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:24,359 Speaker 1: wanted to have a sort of a bare foundation upon 410 00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:27,880 Speaker 1: which you could build whatever computer you wanted. Uh. This 411 00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:31,600 Speaker 1: was a really radical notion, and it meant that the 412 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:35,760 Speaker 1: customer could end up buying a computer graphics card that 413 00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:38,600 Speaker 1: would support color graphics, or maybe they wanted to save 414 00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:40,720 Speaker 1: some money or have a higher resolution so they go 415 00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:44,679 Speaker 1: with a monochromatic video card. They would have the option 416 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:47,800 Speaker 1: to do that with IBMS approach, they weren't forced down 417 00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:50,159 Speaker 1: one path or the other. The same was true for 418 00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:53,159 Speaker 1: how much RAM the computer would have, the type and 419 00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:56,480 Speaker 1: number of storage drives attached to it, and more. This 420 00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:59,720 Speaker 1: proposal got the official approval, and then the team was 421 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:02,639 Speaker 1: hit by a very tough deadline. They were told to 422 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:06,080 Speaker 1: get a product ready for the market within a year. 423 00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:10,200 Speaker 1: The team sourced many of these parts from other companies. 424 00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:13,840 Speaker 1: Now that sped up their process considerably. If they had 425 00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:17,720 Speaker 1: tried to develop all the different components within IBM, they 426 00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:20,840 Speaker 1: never would have made that year deadline. They were also 427 00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:24,280 Speaker 1: given a ton of autonomy as a Business Group. IBM 428 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:29,720 Speaker 1: had recently instituted this new strategy called independent business Units, 429 00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:33,199 Speaker 1: in which teams within such units could operate almost like 430 00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:36,399 Speaker 1: they were a separate startup company, and IBM was kind 431 00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:40,520 Speaker 1: of acting like a venture capital funding source, like they 432 00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:44,160 Speaker 1: were actually providing the money for this unit to get 433 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:47,640 Speaker 1: work done, but the unit itself would be very much 434 00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:51,040 Speaker 1: autonomous in the decisions that would make The project got 435 00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:54,840 Speaker 1: a code name called Project Chess, and the personal computer's 436 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:58,439 Speaker 1: code name became the Acorn, which had no relation to 437 00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:01,480 Speaker 1: the actual personal computer on the market that also was 438 00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:04,280 Speaker 1: called Acorn. One thing that stades a challenge to the 439 00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:08,280 Speaker 1: team was the matter of which programming languages and operating 440 00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:12,399 Speaker 1: systems should this machine support. Now Sam's, the head of 441 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:17,120 Speaker 1: software development, knew he wanted support for Basic and Microsoft 442 00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:20,560 Speaker 1: was the most well known and reliable name in various 443 00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:24,240 Speaker 1: flavors of Basic. It wasn't that Microsoft was the only 444 00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:28,560 Speaker 1: purveyor of Basic, but they were the go to. So 445 00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:31,280 Speaker 1: Sam's went back to meet with Bill Gates and talk 446 00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:35,679 Speaker 1: about working with IBM on this project and essentially officially 447 00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:38,240 Speaker 1: saying we're going to make an IBM personal computer, which 448 00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:40,640 Speaker 1: was no big surprise at that point, everyone at Microsoft 449 00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:43,720 Speaker 1: had figured this out. They had also all been made 450 00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:47,000 Speaker 1: to sign various nondisclosure agreements so they couldn't talk about it, 451 00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:51,480 Speaker 1: but it was a big deal for Microsoft. And then 452 00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:54,560 Speaker 1: Sam said he was also interested in the disc operating 453 00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:59,240 Speaker 1: System or DOSS known as CP slash M because it 454 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:03,720 Speaker 1: supported a lot business oriented software. So remember I mentioned 455 00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:07,920 Speaker 1: there were two different major microprocessors and personal computers at 456 00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:10,480 Speaker 1: that point, there were six five O two processors and 457 00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:16,399 Speaker 1: Z A D processors. CPM disc operating system was compatible 458 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:19,080 Speaker 1: with the z A D processor, but not the six 459 00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:23,880 Speaker 1: five O two and also not the eight from Intel. 460 00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:28,160 Speaker 1: But it did already have a great deal of business 461 00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:31,720 Speaker 1: software that had been programmed for that operating system. So 462 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:34,359 Speaker 1: there were a lot of different companies out there that 463 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:38,120 Speaker 1: depended on those various software packages. They needed a computer 464 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:41,920 Speaker 1: that could run that, so IBM definitely wanted to make 465 00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:44,680 Speaker 1: sure that their computer was going to be compatible with 466 00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:47,560 Speaker 1: that kind of software. They wanted to have that that 467 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:50,480 Speaker 1: foundation there so that it would be easier to sell 468 00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:56,360 Speaker 1: these computers to potential customers. Sam's thought originally that Microsoft 469 00:28:56,480 --> 00:29:01,120 Speaker 1: owned CP slash M because Microsoft had shipped copies of 470 00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:04,520 Speaker 1: that operating system along with a hardware chip one of 471 00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:08,680 Speaker 1: the few pieces of hardware that Microsoft actually was involved with, 472 00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:11,960 Speaker 1: and that was called the soft card. The soft card 473 00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:15,520 Speaker 1: was designed for the Apple Too. The soft card had 474 00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:18,719 Speaker 1: a z A D CPU on it that was compatible 475 00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:22,960 Speaker 1: with that disc operating system CP slash M. Now, again, 476 00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:28,080 Speaker 1: Apple's microprocessor was a six five oh two from most technologies, 477 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:31,720 Speaker 1: it was not compatible with this version of DOSS. But 478 00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:35,120 Speaker 1: if you were to slot in a soft card into 479 00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:39,200 Speaker 1: an Apple to expansion slot, then you could boot into 480 00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:42,720 Speaker 1: the machine using the z A D CPU instead of 481 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:45,800 Speaker 1: the Apple's normal CPU, and then you could run this 482 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:48,840 Speaker 1: version of DOSS just fine. And that meant that the 483 00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:51,840 Speaker 1: Apple Too would become a really powerful computer because not 484 00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:54,480 Speaker 1: only could you run it for all the applications that 485 00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:57,600 Speaker 1: were designed specifically for the Apple, which involved a lot 486 00:29:57,640 --> 00:30:01,120 Speaker 1: of educational software and games, you could then boot it 487 00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:04,120 Speaker 1: into this other form and then you could run business 488 00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:07,360 Speaker 1: software on it. It made the Apple to really, really attractive, 489 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:09,920 Speaker 1: and that's one of the reasons why it maintained its 490 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:12,840 Speaker 1: position in the market for so long, even though it 491 00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:18,080 Speaker 1: was running on an increasingly aging microprocessor. Well, IBM one 492 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:22,280 Speaker 1: of this too, but they couldn't just run CP slash 493 00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:25,800 Speaker 1: M DOSS on their machines. They needed to be able 494 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:29,280 Speaker 1: to get a version of this DOSS that would be 495 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:35,080 Speaker 1: compatible with the microprocessor they were using, the eight from Intel. 496 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:38,080 Speaker 1: But then they found out that Microsoft didn't own this 497 00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:41,240 Speaker 1: operating system at all. They had actually been licensing the 498 00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:46,080 Speaker 1: operating system from another company called Digital Research. At first, 499 00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:49,120 Speaker 1: IBM tried to work out a deal with Digital Research 500 00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:52,840 Speaker 1: to license the operating system for IBM s personal computer, 501 00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:57,600 Speaker 1: but there were various breakdowns in negotiations, and exactly what 502 00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:01,280 Speaker 1: happened is not entirely clear because the various parties that 503 00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:06,920 Speaker 1: were involved have conflicting accounts, like wildly conflicting accounts of 504 00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:11,440 Speaker 1: what actually happened. In the end, IBM left Digital Research 505 00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:14,640 Speaker 1: without an agreement in place to have that cpf CP 506 00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:18,960 Speaker 1: slash M DOSS running on their machines, and Sam's was 507 00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:22,520 Speaker 1: desperate to find an alternative. Now, IBM was not the 508 00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:26,160 Speaker 1: only party interested in creating a disc operating system that 509 00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:30,480 Speaker 1: was compatible with this Intel eight eight chip. There's another 510 00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:35,400 Speaker 1: guy named Tom Paterson of Seattle Computer Products. He had 511 00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:38,680 Speaker 1: the same problem. He wanted to create a version of 512 00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:42,320 Speaker 1: this DISC operating system that would work on an Intel 513 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:47,360 Speaker 1: eight or eight eight six based computer. The company you 514 00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:51,840 Speaker 1: worked for, Seattle Computer Products, was a frequent collaborator with Microsoft. 515 00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:54,920 Speaker 1: So Paterson goes to work on creating this disc operating 516 00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:59,040 Speaker 1: system that would run on Intel chips. And he took 517 00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:03,080 Speaker 1: the reference man ULL for the CP slash M version 518 00:32:03,120 --> 00:32:08,320 Speaker 1: of DOSS, and then he reverse engineered DOSS for these 519 00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:12,320 Speaker 1: other microchips. He said, well, here's what this version of 520 00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:15,040 Speaker 1: DOSS does. How can I do that for this other 521 00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:20,360 Speaker 1: type of microprocessor. He called his build q DOSS that 522 00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:25,280 Speaker 1: stood for a Quick and Dirty operating system. Peterson actually 523 00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:27,840 Speaker 1: would reach out to Bill Gates. He had no idea 524 00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:30,800 Speaker 1: that Gates have been talking to IBM at all. He 525 00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:33,760 Speaker 1: didn't know that IBM was interested in making a personal computer. 526 00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:36,920 Speaker 1: He just wanted to talk to Gates about this new 527 00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:40,080 Speaker 1: operating system he had built in the hopes that Microsoft 528 00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:43,360 Speaker 1: might show interest in developing software for the operating system, 529 00:32:43,440 --> 00:32:46,200 Speaker 1: so that way it would create a demand for this 530 00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:48,680 Speaker 1: version of the OS, and then he would be able 531 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:51,480 Speaker 1: to sell this version of the OS to other companies. 532 00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:56,040 Speaker 1: Gates saw q DOSS as the solution for ibm s woes, 533 00:32:56,760 --> 00:32:59,920 Speaker 1: but he didn't let Peterson know about it. He report 534 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:03,239 Speaker 1: it ly contacted Sam's over at IBM and asked him 535 00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:06,880 Speaker 1: if Big Blue that's the nickname for IBM, wanted to 536 00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:11,360 Speaker 1: purchase this operating system for themselves or if Microsoft should 537 00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:14,240 Speaker 1: look into it. And Sam's made a call that would 538 00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:16,760 Speaker 1: end up being both the beginning and the end of 539 00:33:16,840 --> 00:33:21,280 Speaker 1: IBMS foray into personal computing. He said, you guys take 540 00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:27,920 Speaker 1: care of it. Whoof In retrospect, this, paired with the 541 00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:31,400 Speaker 1: decision to go with off the shelf components, is the 542 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:36,520 Speaker 1: reason why IBM is not still in the personal computer market. 543 00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:40,640 Speaker 1: If IBM had bought the operating system, this story would 544 00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:45,960 Speaker 1: be incredibly different. Instead, Microsoft ultimately would get it. Now 545 00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:48,640 Speaker 1: explain why this ended up creating the PC world we 546 00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:52,760 Speaker 1: have now and just a little bit, but ultimately Microsoft 547 00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:56,400 Speaker 1: would be responsible for delivering an operating system and support 548 00:33:56,600 --> 00:34:01,800 Speaker 1: for four programming languages for this ran new IBM personal computer, 549 00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:06,720 Speaker 1: and now those languages were Basic, Cobal for Tran, and Pascal. 550 00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:10,680 Speaker 1: They also promised to make software for this new computer 551 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:13,840 Speaker 1: system and give it a bit of a library upon launch, 552 00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:17,719 Speaker 1: since a home computer is ultimately only as useful as 553 00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:22,000 Speaker 1: the software it has at its disposal. In return, IBM 554 00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:25,720 Speaker 1: would pay a licensing fee to Microsoft, giving a portion 555 00:34:25,880 --> 00:34:29,480 Speaker 1: of each sale to Microsoft as a royalty. The two 556 00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:32,880 Speaker 1: companies made their partnerships formal by signing a contract on 557 00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:37,120 Speaker 1: November six. By this time, people like Low and Sam's 558 00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:41,359 Speaker 1: have been moved to other projects inside IBM, and there 559 00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:43,880 Speaker 1: was a new leader of Project Chess who was brought 560 00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:46,359 Speaker 1: on at this stage. This is one of those other 561 00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:49,839 Speaker 1: issues that IBM had at times where it was such 562 00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:52,800 Speaker 1: a big company and there were so many different things 563 00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:56,719 Speaker 1: going on that often people would get shuffled around. And 564 00:34:57,080 --> 00:34:59,600 Speaker 1: sometimes that was great. Sometimes it was exactly what a 565 00:34:59,600 --> 00:35:02,040 Speaker 1: project needed in order to get a boost of energy 566 00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:06,160 Speaker 1: and keep going. In other cases it created a moment 567 00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:08,759 Speaker 1: of chaos where everyone had to figure out what they 568 00:35:08,760 --> 00:35:11,279 Speaker 1: were doing and where they were going, and how their 569 00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:13,600 Speaker 1: actions were going to affect the overall projects. So it 570 00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:17,399 Speaker 1: was very complicated. Meanwhile, Gates was working on a deal 571 00:35:17,600 --> 00:35:20,719 Speaker 1: that would end up benefiting Microsoft at the expense of 572 00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:25,160 Speaker 1: both IBM and s c. P. Peterson still did not 573 00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:28,279 Speaker 1: know that Gates was talking to IBM at all, or 574 00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:31,200 Speaker 1: that IBM was interested in q Doss. He had continued 575 00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:34,239 Speaker 1: to work on the operating system himself independently, and he 576 00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:37,319 Speaker 1: had refined it, and he also renamed it. It was 577 00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:39,680 Speaker 1: no longer the Quick and Dirty operating system. It was 578 00:35:39,719 --> 00:35:43,720 Speaker 1: the eighty six DOSS, named after the eight eight six 579 00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:47,440 Speaker 1: Intel chip with which the operating system was compatible. It 580 00:35:47,560 --> 00:35:52,040 Speaker 1: was also compatible with because they were built on similar architectures. 581 00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:57,680 Speaker 1: Microsoft proposed a deal with SCP. Microsoft would go out 582 00:35:57,719 --> 00:36:02,800 Speaker 1: and get clients for the eight six DOS operating system 583 00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:07,120 Speaker 1: and they would pay SCP a ten thousand dollar licensing 584 00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:11,880 Speaker 1: fee per agreement, or fifteen thousand dollars if the agreement 585 00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:15,719 Speaker 1: included the source code for eight six DOSS. Microsoft also 586 00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:20,160 Speaker 1: made a ten thousand dollar investment in SCP, so SEP agreed. 587 00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:23,840 Speaker 1: They did not know that Microsoft had only one license 588 00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:27,920 Speaker 1: in mind, and that was IBM. SCP thought that Microsoft 589 00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:31,200 Speaker 1: had lined up a whole bunch of different clients and 590 00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:33,719 Speaker 1: then they were just gonna see license fee after a 591 00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:37,120 Speaker 1: license fee roll in. But Microsoft really just had one. 592 00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:41,239 Speaker 1: So for twenty five thousand dollars, Microsoft got access to 593 00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:46,640 Speaker 1: the operating system that IBM desperately wanted. Eventually, Microsoft would 594 00:36:46,719 --> 00:36:50,680 Speaker 1: hire Peterson away from SCP, and at that point when 595 00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:53,319 Speaker 1: he moved over to Microsoft, he was finally let in 596 00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:56,360 Speaker 1: on the secret that IBM was the big client. He 597 00:36:56,480 --> 00:36:59,120 Speaker 1: also began to edit eighty six DOSS according to some 598 00:36:59,239 --> 00:37:02,239 Speaker 1: changes that I b M wanted in the operating system 599 00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:05,640 Speaker 1: to make it closer to the CP slash M DISC 600 00:37:05,760 --> 00:37:08,320 Speaker 1: operating system that they had wanted in the first place, 601 00:37:08,719 --> 00:37:11,960 Speaker 1: which Peterson was not crazy about. He did not like 602 00:37:12,120 --> 00:37:15,759 Speaker 1: the idea of making his product even more like a 603 00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:19,160 Speaker 1: thing that some people would accuse him of stealing. Later, 604 00:37:20,040 --> 00:37:23,640 Speaker 1: a magazine called info World published an article in June 605 00:37:23,719 --> 00:37:27,440 Speaker 1: night one, a couple of months before IBM made the 606 00:37:27,440 --> 00:37:31,280 Speaker 1: big announcement about this personal computer, and they they leaked 607 00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:35,120 Speaker 1: the project. Someone had clearly talked to a person over 608 00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:38,080 Speaker 1: an info World and in the piece the author said 609 00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:40,720 Speaker 1: that IBM planned to show off the PC in July, 610 00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:45,200 Speaker 1: which turned out to be wrong. IBM wasn't ready until August, 611 00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:49,680 Speaker 1: but the data Master did come out in July one, 612 00:37:49,719 --> 00:37:52,720 Speaker 1: and that caused a bit of confusion because people thought, oh, 613 00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:55,240 Speaker 1: this must have been the computer. The info World mentioned 614 00:37:55,400 --> 00:37:57,600 Speaker 1: it wasn't, but it was in some ways similar to 615 00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:00,400 Speaker 1: the IBM PC, and that it was the first of 616 00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:04,840 Speaker 1: IBMS micro computers to actually have a micro processor on it. Meanwhile, 617 00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:09,560 Speaker 1: back at SCP, that company was reeling. They were facing 618 00:38:09,640 --> 00:38:12,680 Speaker 1: hard times. They were only getting They had only received 619 00:38:12,719 --> 00:38:16,080 Speaker 1: ten thousand or twenty dollars total from Microsoft for the 620 00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:20,120 Speaker 1: licensing fees. They The string of fees they had expected 621 00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:24,720 Speaker 1: to collect didn't happen. Also, Paterson had left the company, 622 00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:29,920 Speaker 1: so they're head software developer was gone. The hardware they 623 00:38:29,920 --> 00:38:32,360 Speaker 1: were making was not in demand, so they were really 624 00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:35,960 Speaker 1: having a hard time. Gates made an offer that the 625 00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:41,239 Speaker 1: company could not refuse, which was Microsoft would purchase the 626 00:38:41,360 --> 00:38:46,600 Speaker 1: eight six DOSS operating system outright for fifty thou dollars 627 00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:52,880 Speaker 1: and then grant SCP and exclusive license for the operating system. 628 00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:55,759 Speaker 1: SCP was in no real position to negotiate, and they 629 00:38:55,800 --> 00:39:00,000 Speaker 1: agreed to this deal, which essentially flipped things between Microsoft 630 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:04,799 Speaker 1: an SCP. Microsoft became the sole owner of eight six DOSS, 631 00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:10,360 Speaker 1: which the company quickly rebranded and called MS DOSS. So 632 00:39:10,400 --> 00:39:13,560 Speaker 1: if you've ever heard of an MS DOS machine, technically 633 00:39:13,600 --> 00:39:15,880 Speaker 1: that was a machine that was running an operating system 634 00:39:15,920 --> 00:39:18,560 Speaker 1: that had been developed by a totally different company that 635 00:39:18,680 --> 00:39:22,560 Speaker 1: was just tightly coupled with Microsoft. Now I have more 636 00:39:22,600 --> 00:39:25,759 Speaker 1: to say about the IBM PC and how that led 637 00:39:25,760 --> 00:39:28,840 Speaker 1: into the IBM compatible and clone era in just a minute. 638 00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:32,240 Speaker 1: But first let's take another quick break to thank our sponsor. 639 00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:42,280 Speaker 1: As the IBM PC got closer to an official release, 640 00:39:42,440 --> 00:39:47,680 Speaker 1: Digital Research set, hang on that MS DOS operating system 641 00:39:47,719 --> 00:39:52,120 Speaker 1: you've got there looks an awful lot like r CP 642 00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:56,520 Speaker 1: slash M operating system. So there was even the possibility 643 00:39:56,520 --> 00:39:59,680 Speaker 1: of legal action coming up. Digital Research was looking at 644 00:39:59,680 --> 00:40:03,719 Speaker 1: the post ability of suing Um, Microsoft and IBM. Now 645 00:40:03,760 --> 00:40:07,359 Speaker 1: IBM was able to soothe the company by stating that 646 00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:11,280 Speaker 1: they were still interested in licensing a version of CP 647 00:40:11,480 --> 00:40:16,560 Speaker 1: slash M that was compatible with the micro processor and said, hey, hey, 648 00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:18,960 Speaker 1: if you just make a version of the thing you 649 00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:22,359 Speaker 1: make that works on the computers we're making, we will 650 00:40:22,440 --> 00:40:26,759 Speaker 1: totally pay you. And Digital Research was reassured and said 651 00:40:26,840 --> 00:40:29,719 Speaker 1: it would do that, it would deliver upon that request, 652 00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:34,279 Speaker 1: and this would make the IBM PC have four potential 653 00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:37,960 Speaker 1: operating systems, which is pretty crazy. The basic model of 654 00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:42,319 Speaker 1: the IBM PC, as it was finally announced in August one, 655 00:40:42,520 --> 00:40:46,640 Speaker 1: cost one thousand, five hundred sixty five dollars That included 656 00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:50,080 Speaker 1: a machine with sixteen kilobytes of RAM and a floppy drive, 657 00:40:50,480 --> 00:40:53,760 Speaker 1: and it would run basic hosted in the computers read 658 00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:56,919 Speaker 1: only memory or ROM. Now, if you kick it out 659 00:40:57,120 --> 00:41:00,480 Speaker 1: an IBM fifty one fifty two its full potential, it 660 00:41:00,520 --> 00:41:04,080 Speaker 1: would cost closer to six thousand dollars. This is pretty 661 00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:07,400 Speaker 1: much how PCs shake out today. You typically have a 662 00:41:07,440 --> 00:41:10,359 Speaker 1: spectrum of options you can choose from, starting with the 663 00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:14,720 Speaker 1: entry level and working up to LEAT status. On launch, 664 00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:17,759 Speaker 1: you could opt to have MS DOSS or u c 665 00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:21,600 Speaker 1: SD Pascal loaded onto your machine for an extra fee. 666 00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:25,919 Speaker 1: That CP slash M operating system from Digital Research would 667 00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:29,440 Speaker 1: lag behind for six more months before it was finally 668 00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:32,120 Speaker 1: available for the platform, and when it did become available, 669 00:41:32,320 --> 00:41:35,920 Speaker 1: IBM was offering it for the princely sum of two 670 00:41:36,040 --> 00:41:39,600 Speaker 1: hundred forty dollars. That would lead Digital Research to say, hey, 671 00:41:39,640 --> 00:41:41,600 Speaker 1: you were pricing us out of the market because MS 672 00:41:41,719 --> 00:41:45,120 Speaker 1: dos cost like forty bucks. You probaced us at two 673 00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:48,239 Speaker 1: hundred forty, so you were specifically doing it so that 674 00:41:48,280 --> 00:41:51,799 Speaker 1: people wouldn't buy our stuff, but they would buy MS DOSS. 675 00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:55,480 Speaker 1: IBM said, no, that wasn't why we we set the 676 00:41:55,480 --> 00:41:58,720 Speaker 1: price at that level. Your licensing fees were so high 677 00:41:59,080 --> 00:42:01,440 Speaker 1: that that was the level we had to charge if 678 00:42:01,480 --> 00:42:03,920 Speaker 1: we wanted to make any sort of profit, and this 679 00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:07,920 Speaker 1: argument went back and forth. It never really got nice. 680 00:42:08,080 --> 00:42:11,600 Speaker 1: It was pretty acrimonious. The market would play out in 681 00:42:11,640 --> 00:42:14,400 Speaker 1: such a way that MS DOS would eventually become the 682 00:42:14,520 --> 00:42:19,560 Speaker 1: clear front runner of those four operating systems. Moreover, Microsoft, 683 00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:23,560 Speaker 1: because of its ownership of ms DOSS, could license out 684 00:42:23,560 --> 00:42:28,080 Speaker 1: that operating system to other computer manufacturers, not just IBM. 685 00:42:28,120 --> 00:42:31,120 Speaker 1: Not all of those computers would have software or hardware 686 00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:34,080 Speaker 1: compatibility with IBM machines, So that makes things a little 687 00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:37,800 Speaker 1: more confusing. So you had IBM compatibles and IBM clones, 688 00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:40,840 Speaker 1: but you also had other computers that were running ms DOS, 689 00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:45,640 Speaker 1: but we're not technically compatible with IBM machines. And IBM 690 00:42:45,680 --> 00:42:49,359 Speaker 1: had relied so heavily on off the shelf components that 691 00:42:49,400 --> 00:42:53,680 Speaker 1: minute was possible to recreate, at least from a hardware perspective, 692 00:42:54,040 --> 00:42:57,200 Speaker 1: the IBM personal Computer. You could go out if you 693 00:42:57,200 --> 00:43:01,880 Speaker 1: were a manufacturer, and you could get the AI pieces, 694 00:43:01,960 --> 00:43:04,120 Speaker 1: the same components that IBM was using because they were 695 00:43:04,160 --> 00:43:07,160 Speaker 1: using so many off the shelf components, and you could 696 00:43:07,160 --> 00:43:09,960 Speaker 1: build your own version of what the IBM PC was. 697 00:43:10,280 --> 00:43:13,120 Speaker 1: There was one thing that IBM had going for it 698 00:43:13,560 --> 00:43:17,440 Speaker 1: that was proprietary and that was the basic Input output 699 00:43:17,520 --> 00:43:21,160 Speaker 1: system or BIOS. This is sort of the the base 700 00:43:21,280 --> 00:43:26,480 Speaker 1: level where the various input and output components of your 701 00:43:26,520 --> 00:43:31,600 Speaker 1: computer communicate with the computer's processor, so things like you know, 702 00:43:31,680 --> 00:43:34,279 Speaker 1: all the basic stuff. Every way you put information into 703 00:43:34,320 --> 00:43:37,040 Speaker 1: the computer, in every way the computer sends information back 704 00:43:37,080 --> 00:43:40,759 Speaker 1: to you, it passes through this layer. And IBM had 705 00:43:40,800 --> 00:43:43,520 Speaker 1: its own BIOS, so that was one thing that differentiated 706 00:43:43,560 --> 00:43:46,560 Speaker 1: it from all other competitors on the market, and that 707 00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:51,640 Speaker 1: was proprietary. However, numerous companies decided they wanted to try 708 00:43:51,760 --> 00:43:55,320 Speaker 1: and create a clone of IBM PCs, so they started 709 00:43:55,360 --> 00:43:58,879 Speaker 1: to reverse engineer the BIOS in order to create their 710 00:43:58,960 --> 00:44:02,920 Speaker 1: own computers would run similar to the IBM pc US. 711 00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:06,919 Speaker 1: Courts in general have ruled that reverse engineering is not 712 00:44:07,040 --> 00:44:12,120 Speaker 1: the same thing as copying. Copying involves getting access to 713 00:44:12,360 --> 00:44:16,480 Speaker 1: the source code of something and then line by line 714 00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:19,600 Speaker 1: copying it down so that you have your own version. 715 00:44:19,840 --> 00:44:24,680 Speaker 1: That's illegal. That's considered intellectual property theft. You're you're violating copyright. 716 00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:29,360 Speaker 1: But if you see a program and you see what 717 00:44:29,440 --> 00:44:32,440 Speaker 1: the program is doing, like you see what the output is, 718 00:44:32,920 --> 00:44:35,759 Speaker 1: and then you try to create your own software that 719 00:44:35,880 --> 00:44:38,680 Speaker 1: does the same thing, like you put the same input 720 00:44:38,719 --> 00:44:42,239 Speaker 1: in and you get the same output back. If you 721 00:44:42,320 --> 00:44:46,439 Speaker 1: do that on your own without copying the original, then 722 00:44:46,480 --> 00:44:48,760 Speaker 1: you could say, well, yeah, I get the same result, 723 00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:51,520 Speaker 1: but I did it my way. I didn't I didn't 724 00:44:51,560 --> 00:44:54,080 Speaker 1: copy anyone else, and u S courts in general have 725 00:44:54,160 --> 00:44:57,160 Speaker 1: said that's legitte. If you reverse engineer what someone else 726 00:44:57,200 --> 00:44:59,640 Speaker 1: has done and you're not copying them, like you didn't 727 00:44:59,680 --> 00:45:02,520 Speaker 1: actually go in and look at how the nuts and 728 00:45:02,560 --> 00:45:07,280 Speaker 1: bolts work, then that that can stand in the market. 729 00:45:07,520 --> 00:45:11,120 Speaker 1: That doesn't count as copying. Computers like the Commodore sixty 730 00:45:11,120 --> 00:45:13,719 Speaker 1: four and the TRS e D we're aging out of 731 00:45:13,719 --> 00:45:16,400 Speaker 1: the market at this stage. The rise of the IBM 732 00:45:16,440 --> 00:45:20,800 Speaker 1: PC and Microsoft's ability to create software for the platform 733 00:45:20,840 --> 00:45:24,719 Speaker 1: made the IBM PC a much more powerful competitor. They 734 00:45:24,800 --> 00:45:27,759 Speaker 1: just the fact that they were having software that was 735 00:45:27,880 --> 00:45:31,360 Speaker 1: appealing not just to the home user but two businesses 736 00:45:31,800 --> 00:45:36,040 Speaker 1: made it a really attractive computer platform. Computers like the 737 00:45:36,120 --> 00:45:39,359 Speaker 1: Tandy two thousand, which could run ms DOSS, were not 738 00:45:39,480 --> 00:45:43,120 Speaker 1: fully compatible with IBM PCs and really could only run 739 00:45:43,160 --> 00:45:46,360 Speaker 1: a subset of the same programs that IBM machines could, 740 00:45:46,719 --> 00:45:49,799 Speaker 1: and that was largely due to micro process or architecture, 741 00:45:50,120 --> 00:45:54,759 Speaker 1: so IBM had decided to go with the eight. Now 742 00:45:54,800 --> 00:45:59,000 Speaker 1: that that had some limitations to it, other companies decided, hey, 743 00:45:59,040 --> 00:46:03,239 Speaker 1: we can compete with I b M by using faster microprocessors, 744 00:46:03,800 --> 00:46:06,960 Speaker 1: and those will be able to support more RAM than 745 00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:10,840 Speaker 1: IBM S machines can, and therefore we can make computers 746 00:46:10,840 --> 00:46:14,520 Speaker 1: that have better specs than IBM does. The problem was 747 00:46:15,760 --> 00:46:20,520 Speaker 1: the operating system MS DOSS was compatible with those less 748 00:46:20,560 --> 00:46:25,080 Speaker 1: powerful chips, but not necessarily compatible with more powerful chips, 749 00:46:25,200 --> 00:46:26,719 Speaker 1: or at least not to the level where you could 750 00:46:26,800 --> 00:46:29,480 Speaker 1: run all the different types of software. So yes, you 751 00:46:29,480 --> 00:46:32,759 Speaker 1: would technically have a computer that was more powerful than 752 00:46:32,840 --> 00:46:37,000 Speaker 1: the IBM PC, but you would have fewer examples of 753 00:46:37,000 --> 00:46:40,080 Speaker 1: software that you could actually run on that computer, so 754 00:46:40,160 --> 00:46:43,920 Speaker 1: it's utility was not as great as the IBM PC. 755 00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:47,600 Speaker 1: In this way, IBM was able to set the standard 756 00:46:47,880 --> 00:46:52,400 Speaker 1: for what a PC was. Uh As IBM went that way, 757 00:46:52,520 --> 00:46:57,880 Speaker 1: so did Microsoft with their MS DOSS revisions, and IBM 758 00:46:57,960 --> 00:47:01,479 Speaker 1: set the pace. So for a while that was the case. 759 00:47:01,520 --> 00:47:04,120 Speaker 1: It was that IBM was the de facto standard, and 760 00:47:04,160 --> 00:47:07,360 Speaker 1: other companies would try and make computers that met that standard. 761 00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:11,759 Speaker 1: But we're less expensive or had some other differentiator that 762 00:47:11,800 --> 00:47:15,560 Speaker 1: would make them more attractive than IBM's official machines. It 763 00:47:15,600 --> 00:47:18,360 Speaker 1: didn't help that IBM made a couple of mistakes along 764 00:47:18,360 --> 00:47:21,680 Speaker 1: the way, where there were a couple of personal computers 765 00:47:21,719 --> 00:47:25,040 Speaker 1: that ended up getting really bad reviews. But a lot 766 00:47:25,040 --> 00:47:28,280 Speaker 1: of IBM machines were really good machines. They were also 767 00:47:28,719 --> 00:47:33,200 Speaker 1: fairly expensive machines, but they again, that was the company 768 00:47:33,200 --> 00:47:35,399 Speaker 1: that got to set the tone and everyone else had 769 00:47:35,400 --> 00:47:38,239 Speaker 1: to sort of play along. Tandy was not one of 770 00:47:38,280 --> 00:47:43,960 Speaker 1: those companies. Tandy was creating computers that were technically superior 771 00:47:44,200 --> 00:47:46,919 Speaker 1: in many ways to the IBM machines at the time, 772 00:47:46,960 --> 00:47:49,600 Speaker 1: but again they suffered for it by not being able 773 00:47:49,640 --> 00:47:52,040 Speaker 1: to run as much of the software, so it ended 774 00:47:52,120 --> 00:47:54,840 Speaker 1: up not helping Tandy in the long run, and they 775 00:47:54,880 --> 00:47:57,560 Speaker 1: would eventually get out of that game. Still, more and 776 00:47:57,600 --> 00:48:00,759 Speaker 1: more manufacturers began to create computers that followed ibm s lead, 777 00:48:01,080 --> 00:48:04,759 Speaker 1: and that created a full industry of IBM clones or 778 00:48:04,920 --> 00:48:08,359 Speaker 1: compatible So if you've ever heard the term IBM compatible, 779 00:48:08,680 --> 00:48:10,960 Speaker 1: what that meant was it was made by a company 780 00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:15,359 Speaker 1: that was not IBM, but using similar hardware and software 781 00:48:15,600 --> 00:48:19,359 Speaker 1: and bios that would allow it to run the same 782 00:48:19,400 --> 00:48:23,160 Speaker 1: software that would run on an IBM machine. And because 783 00:48:23,200 --> 00:48:25,799 Speaker 1: IBM had used all these off the shelf pieces, and 784 00:48:25,880 --> 00:48:29,520 Speaker 1: because people could reverse engineer the bios, and because MS 785 00:48:29,600 --> 00:48:33,439 Speaker 1: DOSS could license or Microsoft rather it could license ms 786 00:48:33,480 --> 00:48:36,560 Speaker 1: DOS to any company it wanted to. Because IBM to 787 00:48:36,680 --> 00:48:41,120 Speaker 1: not own the operating system, it meant that IBM had 788 00:48:41,239 --> 00:48:45,319 Speaker 1: managed to create its own competitors in the marketplace. This 789 00:48:45,440 --> 00:48:47,600 Speaker 1: was great for the end consumer. If you were someone 790 00:48:47,640 --> 00:48:49,839 Speaker 1: who was shopping around for a computer, it was great 791 00:48:49,880 --> 00:48:52,080 Speaker 1: because there were a lot of different opportunities out there 792 00:48:52,560 --> 00:48:58,000 Speaker 1: that had really affordable machines that could run similar programs 793 00:48:58,000 --> 00:49:01,840 Speaker 1: to IBM s. But it was not so great for IBM. 794 00:49:01,880 --> 00:49:05,640 Speaker 1: If they had maintained ownership of the operating system, it 795 00:49:05,640 --> 00:49:08,719 Speaker 1: would have been an entirely different story. IBM would have 796 00:49:08,760 --> 00:49:11,480 Speaker 1: not just set the tone, they would be the dominant 797 00:49:11,520 --> 00:49:15,600 Speaker 1: factor in personal computers because they'd be the only game 798 00:49:15,600 --> 00:49:18,200 Speaker 1: in town that could actually use that operating system. Someone 799 00:49:18,200 --> 00:49:19,640 Speaker 1: else would have had to have come up with a 800 00:49:19,680 --> 00:49:23,399 Speaker 1: different operating system that was at least as good, if 801 00:49:23,440 --> 00:49:26,160 Speaker 1: not superior, to MS DOST in order to have made 802 00:49:26,200 --> 00:49:30,520 Speaker 1: that a more competitive space. But IBM didn't have that. 803 00:49:31,120 --> 00:49:33,959 Speaker 1: Microsoft had it, and of course, for Microsoft, it made 804 00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:37,919 Speaker 1: way more sense to license out MS DOSS to any 805 00:49:37,960 --> 00:49:41,000 Speaker 1: company that was capable of running it, because that you 806 00:49:41,200 --> 00:49:44,640 Speaker 1: could just make money from multiple customers. So Microsoft was 807 00:49:44,719 --> 00:49:48,399 Speaker 1: making out like a bandit compared to IBM. IBM would 808 00:49:48,440 --> 00:49:51,120 Speaker 1: end up staying in the PC market for several years, 809 00:49:51,120 --> 00:49:53,480 Speaker 1: but their choices meant that it was tough to create 810 00:49:53,520 --> 00:49:56,800 Speaker 1: products that had good profit margins and good enough sales 811 00:49:57,200 --> 00:50:01,239 Speaker 1: to justify that that industry, And in two thousand five, 812 00:50:01,760 --> 00:50:05,120 Speaker 1: IBM ultimately decided that it had had enough and it's 813 00:50:05,160 --> 00:50:09,320 Speaker 1: sold off its PC businesses to Lenovo for a cool 814 00:50:09,480 --> 00:50:14,320 Speaker 1: one point seven five billion dollars. And at that point 815 00:50:14,480 --> 00:50:19,480 Speaker 1: IBM said I'm out. But the architecture they had created, 816 00:50:19,719 --> 00:50:24,000 Speaker 1: the MS DOWS and then later on Windows operating system platforms, 817 00:50:24,320 --> 00:50:29,880 Speaker 1: had defined what PCs were, and to this day, most 818 00:50:29,880 --> 00:50:33,759 Speaker 1: computers you find out there follow that modular architecture that 819 00:50:33,840 --> 00:50:36,920 Speaker 1: IBM set up, where you can mix and match pieces 820 00:50:36,920 --> 00:50:38,800 Speaker 1: even to the point where you can build your own machine. 821 00:50:38,840 --> 00:50:41,640 Speaker 1: You can buy all the individual components and build your 822 00:50:41,640 --> 00:50:43,759 Speaker 1: own computer, and then you just have to get the 823 00:50:43,760 --> 00:50:48,760 Speaker 1: operating system, which means typically that you're getting like Microsoft Windows. 824 00:50:49,239 --> 00:50:51,600 Speaker 1: You could go with a different operating system if you 825 00:50:51,600 --> 00:50:54,400 Speaker 1: wanted to, but you probably wouldn't refer to that machine 826 00:50:54,440 --> 00:50:58,000 Speaker 1: as a PC, because again, we typically use PC as 827 00:50:58,040 --> 00:51:01,520 Speaker 1: shorthand for a Windows based machine, or if you're talking 828 00:51:01,520 --> 00:51:04,400 Speaker 1: about the old ones and MS DOSS based machine. And 829 00:51:04,480 --> 00:51:07,160 Speaker 1: that's it. I have finally come to the end of this, 830 00:51:07,560 --> 00:51:11,040 Speaker 1: this long journey talking about the early days of personal 831 00:51:11,040 --> 00:51:14,360 Speaker 1: computers and why it looks the way it does today. 832 00:51:14,480 --> 00:51:17,239 Speaker 1: Why it is that you have the Windows machines on 833 00:51:17,239 --> 00:51:20,440 Speaker 1: one side, the Macintosh machines or the Max on the 834 00:51:20,480 --> 00:51:23,920 Speaker 1: other side, and not a whole lot of other stuff 835 00:51:23,960 --> 00:51:27,600 Speaker 1: in the middle. Again, you have your Linux distros and 836 00:51:27,719 --> 00:51:30,920 Speaker 1: some other operating systems that are out there, but your 837 00:51:30,960 --> 00:51:35,880 Speaker 1: two big players are mac and uh, the Windows based machines. 838 00:51:36,480 --> 00:51:39,280 Speaker 1: And that's this is the reason why. It's because IBM 839 00:51:39,360 --> 00:51:43,440 Speaker 1: had to find this standard in N one, and other 840 00:51:43,560 --> 00:51:46,439 Speaker 1: companies were able to follow along with that standard and 841 00:51:47,239 --> 00:51:50,400 Speaker 1: slowly chip away at IBM to the point where the 842 00:51:50,719 --> 00:51:53,000 Speaker 1: massive company said, you know, it just doesn't make sense 843 00:51:53,040 --> 00:51:55,040 Speaker 1: for us to be in this market anymore. We can't 844 00:51:55,040 --> 00:51:58,520 Speaker 1: really compete at a level that is truly profitable, so 845 00:51:58,600 --> 00:52:01,120 Speaker 1: let's get out, and they did. I hope you guys 846 00:52:01,160 --> 00:52:04,000 Speaker 1: enjoyed this series of episodes, and our next episode, we'll 847 00:52:04,040 --> 00:52:06,440 Speaker 1: be talking about something totally different. I'm gonna follow up 848 00:52:07,040 --> 00:52:10,320 Speaker 1: on a company that I did a series of episodes 849 00:52:10,320 --> 00:52:11,960 Speaker 1: about in the past, but it's been a couple of 850 00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:14,399 Speaker 1: years since I've talked about them, so we're gonna catch 851 00:52:14,440 --> 00:52:16,719 Speaker 1: up and find out what Nintendo has been up to 852 00:52:16,840 --> 00:52:19,359 Speaker 1: since two thousand sixteen. So tune in for that one. 853 00:52:19,640 --> 00:52:22,200 Speaker 1: If you have suggestions for future episodes of tech Stuff, 854 00:52:22,280 --> 00:52:24,600 Speaker 1: send me a message. You can send it to my 855 00:52:24,680 --> 00:52:27,120 Speaker 1: email address for the show that is tech Stuff at 856 00:52:27,120 --> 00:52:29,560 Speaker 1: how stuff Works dot com, or drop me a line 857 00:52:29,640 --> 00:52:31,879 Speaker 1: on Twitter or Facebook. The handle for both of those 858 00:52:31,960 --> 00:52:34,759 Speaker 1: is tech Stuff hs W. Don't forget to follow us 859 00:52:34,800 --> 00:52:37,800 Speaker 1: on Instagram, and of course you can watch me record 860 00:52:37,840 --> 00:52:41,279 Speaker 1: shows live on twitch dot tv slash tech Stuff. Jump 861 00:52:41,320 --> 00:52:43,520 Speaker 1: in there, join the chat room. I look forward to 862 00:52:43,520 --> 00:52:46,680 Speaker 1: seeing you and I'll talk to you again really soon. 863 00:52:52,280 --> 00:52:54,719 Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics. Is 864 00:52:54,719 --> 00:53:01,480 Speaker 1: that how stuff Works dot com, wh whe