WEBVTT - Send in the Clones: The IBM PC Story 0:00:04.160 --> 0:00:07.160 Get in tech with technology with tech Stuff from how 0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:13.800 stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:17.280 I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer at 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:20.479 how Stuff Works and I love all things tech. And 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:23.560 in the last few episodes, I've covered the early days 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:27.120 of personal computers now. I started with an episode dedicated 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:30.360 to computer systems that were unable to establish a permanent 0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:34.599 foothold in the market, so ones that kind of rose up, 0:00:34.640 --> 0:00:37.000 and they were some of them were really really popular 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:39.640 in the early days, but they weren't able to become 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:44.120 a defining personal computer and they are no longer around today. 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:45.920 You can't go out and buy a brand new one. 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:50.400 You could buy emulators, you can buy recreations of them. 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:53.080 You could probably find some of them on eBay, but 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:54.800 you're not going to go and buy like a two 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:58.959 thousand eighteen version of those machines anymore. Then I did 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:01.840 a couple of episodes aka to how Apple managed to 0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:05.400 avoid that same fate. Obviously you can go out and 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:09.639 buy an Apple computer. They're called Max now. But today 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:12.480 we're going to turn our attention to IBM and its 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:16.800 role in defining the modern PC. Because when we say PC, 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:20.240 most of us mean a Windows based machine. People tend 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:23.720 to call the two different types of computers out there, 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:27.360 the two broad different types of computers out there, MAX 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:30.959 or PCs, and when they say PC, they generally mean 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:35.119 something that's running Windows. Now, that's obviously an over generalization. 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:37.520 There are other operating systems out there. I've talked about 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:41.160 that before. Their Unix, there's Linux distributions, there's all sorts 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:44.560 of stuff. But for the average person, it comes down 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:48.440 to a MAC or PC. So how did IBM end 0:01:48.520 --> 0:01:53.000 up defining what a PC is? And why isn't IBM 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:56.640 still in that market? Well, before I dive in, I 0:01:56.680 --> 0:01:58.639 have to say that while I have used a ton 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:02.280 of sources to put this show together, there was one 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:05.600 that was more valuable than any of the others, and 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:08.640 that was a series of articles, two articles actually written 0:02:08.639 --> 0:02:12.920 by Jimmy Maher for Ours Technica, and it's called the 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:18.600 Complete History of the IBM PC, and it's fantastic. I 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:21.040 highly recommend you read those articles to get a better 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:23.639 idea about what was going on at this time. Now, 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:29.560 IBM was a true powerhouse, a multibillion dollar company well 0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:33.600 before the PC era, and it behooves us to do 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:37.480 a quick dive into IBMS history. I've done full episodes 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:40.160 about the history of IBM. It is a long and 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:43.560 complicated history. It's fascinating as well. I'm gonna give you 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:46.480 sort of the cliffs notes version for this particular episode. 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:50.919 So IBM traces its history back to the Computer Tabulating 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:55.120 Record Company, which was founded in nineteen eleven, but even 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:59.080 that doesn't really get back to the beginning of IBM. Sure, 0:02:59.400 --> 0:03:03.760 the Peuter Tabulating Record Company would eventually become IBM, but 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:08.359 that company, that being Computer Tabulating Record Company, which will 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:11.960 just call CTR, that gets way too to complicated. Otherwise, 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:15.840 that was actually an amalgamation of other companies. It was 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:19.359 a sort of a merger of three to four companies, 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:22.200 depending upon how you look at it. So that includes 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:28.040 the International Time Recording Company, the Computing Scale Company, and 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:33.000 the Tabulating Machine Company, as well as the Bundy Manufacturing Company. 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:34.880 And I'll get into why that gets a little complicated 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:37.760 in just a second. So those companies, in turn have 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:41.040 been around in one form or another since the late 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:44.119 nineteenth century. So if you're really picky, you can say 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:47.560 that IBM kind of traces its history back to before 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:51.360 the turn of the twentieth century. The International Time Recording 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:54.680 Company started off as the Bundy Manufacturing Company in the 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:57.720 eighteen eighties in New York, and that was named after 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:01.960 its founder, Willard L. Bundy, who invented and patented mechanical 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:05.880 time recorders. Now technically, the manufacturing aspect of the Bundy 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:10.080 Manufacturing Company remained sort of separate from everything else and 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:12.520 was lumped in with this general merger that would form 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:16.880 the predecessor to IBM. The Computer Scale Company launched in 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:20.359 eight when two businessmen in Ohio had the notion to 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:24.560 purchase some patents that were related to the computing scale 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:26.960 technology that was brand new at the time, and they 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:30.599 created an enterprise out of it. The Tabulating Machine Company 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:35.240 was originally known as the hollow Earth Electric Tabulating System, 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:39.120 named after Herman Hollowrath, its founder. In eighteen ninety six, 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:43.360 Hollowrath formed the Tabulating Machine Company. His business really centered 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:47.360 on punched card systems and readers, so not really computers, 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:50.880 but tabulating devices that used punch cards to tabulate stuff. 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:53.440 He had actually used that in an effort to streamline 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:56.760 the process of going through the results from the US 0:04:56.760 --> 0:05:00.279 Census in eighteen nine at that stage, you had a 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:03.839 population that was getting so big that figuring out what 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:07.400 all the different results were took an enormous amount of 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:09.560 time and a lot of hard work doing it all 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:12.040 by hand. So he had come up with this more 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:15.080 or less automated approach using punch cards and a machine 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:19.920 capable of quickly reading those punch cards. Together, those companies 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:23.599 merged into a new one in nineteen eleven through this 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:27.680 stock amalgamation process. But that does not magically mean that 0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:30.640 everything will work smoothly, as I'm sure some of you 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:34.440 have experienced firsthand if you've ever been through a merger, 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:36.480 if you've worked for a company that has merged or 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:41.560 acquired another company. Charles Randlet Flint was the guy who 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:44.640 had headed these efforts. He was the man behind this 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:49.240 stock amalgamation process emerging all the companies, and he realized 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:52.120 that this massive beast he had created was a bit 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:55.040 beyond his own abilities to lead. It had more than 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:57.719 a thousand employees, and of course it had very diverse 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:03.080 business processes across us the various businesses. The chairman for 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:06.520 the new company was a guy named George Winthrop Fairchild. 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:10.760 But Fairchild was also a congressman and so he was 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:13.680 largely absent from the operations of the company. They needed 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:19.080 to find somebody else. Eventually, a businessman named Thomas J. Watson, 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:22.080 whose last name would go on to become the name 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:26.640 of IBM s artificially intelligent application platform. Watson stepped up 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:28.840 to Flint and said, Hey, I would like to get 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:32.599 a job running a business. I feel like I really 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:36.960 could do some great things. Watson had at that time 0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:41.480 whether a pretty rough storm due to being accused, tried, 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:48.080 and initially convicted of unfair business practices essentially anti trust laws. Now, 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:51.719 he would never end up serving out a prison sentence. 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:55.840 The court would eventually overturn this conviction, but his reputation 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:59.839 among the public despite this legal issue, was extremely strong. 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:02.880 Was known as someone who was very supportive in the community. 0:07:02.960 --> 0:07:09.360 So while he had cutthroat business uh strategies and and instincts, 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:12.480 he was also someone who would give back to the 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:15.880 communities he belonged to. Flint would end up naming Watson 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:19.400 the general manager for CTR, and a little less than 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:22.480 a year later, when all the trial business was resolved, 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:26.840 the board would name him the president of CTR. Now 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:30.480 CTR would remain the name of the company until nineteen 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:33.720 twenty four, when Watson would officially give it a new 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:40.120 moniker International Business Machines or IBM. Throughout its history, it 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:43.880 would primarily focus on business to business operations, so, in 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:47.480 other words, IBM would make the machines that other businesses 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:51.840 depended upon to get work done for their customers. IBM 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:55.000 was not in the business of creating stuff for the 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:58.440 average consumer. So when IBM was working on something, it 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:01.000 wasn't for people like you and me. It was for 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:04.240 big companies so that they could do the businesses that 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:07.120 you know, whatever it was that they did, and so 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:11.560 they might have a forward facing uh side to them 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:14.880 where they would have contact with customers, but IBM didn't. 0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:19.680 Their customers were other companies. IBM grew larger and more 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:24.120 powerful and became a leading name in business machines, and 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:27.600 it all started with mechanical devices, but eventually transition to 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:33.160 electronic and then microchip technologies. In the nineteen forties, IBM 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:37.160 would partner with Harvard University to build the company's first computer, 0:08:37.480 --> 0:08:40.439 although most people refer to it as Harvard's first computer, 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:45.520 known as the Mark one or the Automated Sequence Controlled Calculator. 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:50.120 This was an enormous electro mechanical computer. So in other words, 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:53.679 I had electric parts, electronic parts rather and mechanical parts. 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:56.440 And it played a very important role with several war 0:08:56.559 --> 0:09:00.920 related calculations in the nineteen forties, including some designed by 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:04.719 John von Neumann as part of the Manhattan Project. That's 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:08.000 the project that developed the atomic bomb. It had seven 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:12.040 hundred sixty five thousand components and more than one hundred 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:15.480 miles of wire and cable. So obviously this was not 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:18.400 a home computer, although I guess if you were desperate 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:21.280 you could maybe cut a hole in it and make 0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:24.520 it a home but still not quite the same thing 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:27.200 as what we mean when we say home computer. In 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:31.280 ninety two, Thomas J. Watson Jr. Would become the president 0:09:31.320 --> 0:09:35.679 of IBM and thus began the golden age of the company. 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:39.600 The engineers IBM did groundbreaking work, including creating the first 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:43.800 commercial hard disk drive. By the nineteen sixties, IBM was 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:47.320 a leader in producing massive computers for businesses to help 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:49.800 them manage their data, and at this point, no one 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:54.040 would dream of owning their own home computer. Even after 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:57.880 the invention of the transistor, these machines were still pretty 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:00.040 darn massive, and they would take up an entire a 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:03.520 room of your house. In the early nineteen seventies, as 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:07.240 the first computer hobbyists were experimenting with building their own 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:10.600 basic computing machines for home use, IBM began to create 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:13.600 a platform that would evolve into their own personal computer 0:10:13.720 --> 0:10:17.640 line of machines. A decade later, and IBM manager named 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:21.400 Paul Friedel invented this platform, and it was called the 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:26.480 Special Computer a p L Machine Portable or SCAMP. A 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:30.680 PO by the way, stands for a programming language real 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:34.880 descriptive there that was actually designed by Kenneth e Iverson 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:38.840 back in the nineteen sixties. SCAMP was a research project 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:42.760 meant to create a single user computer. Now, computers in 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:46.440 those days were generally meant for multiple users. This was 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:50.680 the main frame approach. You would have a centralized, very 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:54.360 powerful mainframe computer, and you would have one or more 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:57.680 terminals connected to that mainframe. Typically you would have more 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:00.360 than one, and these terminals acted as a point of 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:05.319 communication between the users and the computers processing units, which 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:08.520 weren't really microchips at this point. They were typically large 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:12.840 circuit boards. These computers used a strategy called time sharing, 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:16.440 which gave the illusion that everyone was working on this 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:21.920 mainframe simultaneously, but in actuality the computer would switch from 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:25.440 one terminal to another to run processes, but it would 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:27.240 do so at a rate that was fast enough to 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:30.280 at least give the implication that everyone was working on 0:11:30.280 --> 0:11:34.640 the same machine simultaneously rather than sequentially. SCAMP was a 0:11:34.679 --> 0:11:39.400 departure from this model. Two IBM laboratories in Silicon Valley, 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:44.360 the IBM Scientific Center and the Advanced Systems Development Lab, 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:48.240 were top secret and given an open sandbox to play 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:52.520 in to develop new technologies that could potentially be commercially useful. So, 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:55.839 in other words, the engineers at these centers didn't have 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:59.959 to worry about improving existing systems or making the next 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:02.960 big computer that IBM was going to sell. They could 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:07.560 instead think further out and experiment with different concepts that 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:10.520 had no real place in the market at that time 0:12:10.840 --> 0:12:14.640 but could potentially be valuable later on. And SCAMP grew 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:18.960 out of that environment. In nineteen two, Dr Paul Friedl, 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:22.320 who was a manager at the Scientific Center, wanted to 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:26.560 build a personal portable IBM computer, meaning a single use 0:12:26.640 --> 0:12:29.560 computer that you can move from place to place. Dr 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:33.560 Friedel made a plan to build SCAMP within six months 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:37.439 and then have it ready to demonstrate to IBM executives. 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:41.559 The executives, when presented with the idea, said wouldn't that 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:47.080 be something, which became scamps motto. Another IBM employee named 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:50.480 Joe George headed up the hardware team to build SCAMP. 0:12:50.840 --> 0:12:54.720 With six months to start and finish and demo a project, 0:12:54.960 --> 0:12:57.880 the team was under the gun to prove their concept 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:01.560 was tenable, so they didn't really have much of a choice. 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:05.160 They decided to go with many off the shelf components 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:08.760 because there just wasn't time to develop everything in house 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:12.480 from scratch. The whole point was to demonstrate if the 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:15.640 concept was possible after all, not to create a product 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:19.160 that would ever see the light of day outside of IBM. 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:23.320 Six months after those initial discussions, the team actually did 0:13:23.440 --> 0:13:27.160 have something to show off to IBM executives. The SCAMP 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:31.359 was in a case that resembled a briefcase, had a keyboard, 0:13:31.679 --> 0:13:35.160 it had a CRT display, and used a cassette tape 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:38.520 drive for media storage. So, in other words, this machine 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:42.520 in nineteen seventy three was already taking a form factor 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:45.200 that wouldn't be seen in the hobbyist world. For another 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:49.080 couple of years. The team gave multiple demonstrations of the 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:52.400 SCAMP concept at IBM and received a lot of interest. 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:55.600 At the final demonstration, the one that was going to 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:59.680 decide the fate of pursuing a single user computer strategy, 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:04.240 it happened here in my hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, at 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:07.880 the Marriott Downtown. Dr Friedel even tells a great story 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:11.080 about this, how he showed up late to the demonstration 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:13.600 because he got lost on the highway because, as he 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:16.400 said in the video, there are just too many roads 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:21.520 in Atlanta called Peach Tree, which is absolutely true. Despite 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:25.120 his late arrival, the demonstration went really well. Dr Freedle 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:28.280 showed off SCAMP to the IBM president, who at that 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:32.080 time was John Opele. The demo went off without any glitches. 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:35.040 They didn't have any hardware failures or software hang ups, 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:38.840 nothing like that. Following the demonstration was a presentation about 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:41.680 how much money it would cost to fund the project. 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:44.640 Opal was so impressed he said, if it was up 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:47.200 to me, I'd go four and a half million dollars 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:50.080 over the budget you're asking for. And that was enough 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:53.200 for Dr Freedle to secure a commitment to move forward. 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:56.280 SCAMP would become the starting point of the path that 0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:59.880 would eventually lead to the IBM fIF fifty a k a. 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:04.800 The IBM Personal Computer. SCAMP, by the way, would eventually 0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:08.760 emerge from the depths of IBM's secret laboratories. It became 0:15:08.840 --> 0:15:12.800 part of a Smithsonian exhibit on information technology and went 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:17.160 on display to the public. But we're not quite at 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:20.760 the IBM PC era yet. IBM had a couple of 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:24.440 other computers in the one hundred line that would precede 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:27.840 the first personal computer from the company, and the first 0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:32.880 of those, the actual IBMFT, was quite the beast. IBM 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:37.000 started selling this descendant of the Scamp in nineteen five, 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:40.240 a year before Apple would debut, and around the same 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:42.880 time the hobbyists were getting their hands on the Altaire 0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:45.800 eight hundred. I've got a lot more to say about 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:49.040 the IBM in just a second, but first let's take 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:59.920 a quick break to thank our sponsor. The IBM was 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:03.640 not a computer built for the home user, but rather 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:08.800 for engineers and mathematicians. It was called a portable computer, 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:11.800 but you really probably wouldn't want to lug it around 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:17.840 because it weighed about fifty five pounds, or wasn't just 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:21.840 bulky it was a little peculiar. Rather than relying on 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:27.520 a microprocessor to act as CPU, spread processor duties across 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:31.640 an entire circuit board using an IBM developed technology called 0:16:31.840 --> 0:16:35.960 palm p a l M. It had sixteen kilobytes of 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:38.720 RAM at its base model, and it used a tape 0:16:38.800 --> 0:16:42.160 drive for storing media and loading programs. It had a 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:45.280 five inch computer screen and a keyboard, and it would 0:16:45.280 --> 0:16:50.440 set you back about ten thousand dollars. Like I said, 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:53.160 these were not intended as computers for the home. This 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:57.640 was for people who were doing scientific research or engineering, 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:01.080 so it was not some thing that you're going to 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:04.119 play games on. It just didn't follow the main frame 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:08.200 terminal form factor that you had seen in previous computers 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:11.720 from IBM. So this was a very specific use computer. 0:17:12.000 --> 0:17:15.600 The idea being scientists in the field or mathematicians who 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:18.240 needed to have a computer that they could potentially bring 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:21.000 to another location and not just have in a big 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:26.040 research laboratory. IBM would refine their design in two updates. 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:30.080 There was the IBM fifty one ten and the IBM 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:34.439 fifty one twenty. These were general office computers, so no 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:38.240 longer scientific research machines, but office machines. They were marketed 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:41.159 as being the machines the company would invest in in 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:44.480 order to do stuff like accounting, or data management or 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:49.240 word processing. IBM announced the fifty one ten in nineteen 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:53.960 seventy eight, and it could support more peripherals than could 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:57.160 the one that came out before it, including a peripheral 0:17:57.200 --> 0:18:00.960 called the IBM fifty one fourteen would was an external 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:05.480 dual eight inch floppy drive, so floppy disk drive that 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:08.680 could take eight inch floppy disks. You might not remember 0:18:08.680 --> 0:18:11.080 that there were such things. They weren't really used in 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:14.520 personal computers. They were used in these business machines, and 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:17.160 by the time the personal computer floppy discs came around, 0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:19.800 they were more frequently the five and a quarter size 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:22.080 and then later on three and a half inch size. 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:26.360 The entry level fifty one ten, which supported the Basic 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:31.000 programming language only and had sixteen kilobytes of RAM, would 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:35.159 cost eight thousand, four hundred seventy five dollars. But if 0:18:35.200 --> 0:18:38.320 you wanted a top of the line sixty four kilobyte 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:41.119 machine capable of running both Basic and the a p 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:45.440 L programming language, that would set you back fifteen thousand, 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:49.280 seven hundred twenty five dollars. The computer had an all 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:52.920 in one form factor. The keyboard and display were all 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:56.520 part of the case. The display screen was still five 0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:59.520 inches and it was monochromatic, and it still relied on 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:06.560 the processor, that circuit board processor that had twenty followed 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:09.520 in the winter of Night, and it was another all 0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:12.760 in one machine with a keyboard and monitor all part 0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:15.600 of the same case. It also shipped with two floppy 0:19:15.640 --> 0:19:19.400 disk drives standard they accepted those eight inch floppy disks 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:22.679 I talked about a second ago. The display, however, was larger. 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:26.800 It measured nine inches, and the components in the twenty 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:34.159 made the heavy heaviest desktop computer ever was a massive heavyweight. 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:39.000 It weighed a hundred and five pounds or forty eight ms. 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:43.200 The full computer system included not just the computer, which 0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:47.440 was technically a fifteen Model three, but also an external 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:51.119 diskette unit and a dot Matrix printer. So the price 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:54.080 range for that computer system, because keep in minds more 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:57.639 than just that one computer started at nine thousand, three 0:19:58.119 --> 0:20:01.040 forty dollars, and if you wanted to completely tricked out, 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:04.600 it would go all the way up to twenty three thousand, 0:20:04.920 --> 0:20:09.840 nine hundred ninety bucks for that computer system. Yikes. Now 0:20:09.880 --> 0:20:13.000 that line of computers at least a name would continue 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:16.359 to the fifty one fifty PC which was released in 0:20:17.800 --> 0:20:20.840 But before that, there's another computer from IBM that I 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:24.400 need to mention, and it was not part of the line, 0:20:24.760 --> 0:20:28.439 but was an important step toward the personal computer. And 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:32.040 this was the System slash twenty three Data Master or 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:35.040 just data Master for short, and I think that's an 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:38.280 awesome name for a computer. The Data Master was the 0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:43.560 first desktop computer designed by IBM to feature a microprocessor 0:20:43.880 --> 0:20:47.480 instead of that circuit board with the Palm processor that 0:20:47.520 --> 0:20:51.120 IBM had been using. The Data Master had an Intel 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:55.240 eight eighty five as its central processing unit. Like the 0:20:55.320 --> 0:20:58.320 fifty one twenty, it was heavy. It weighed ninety five 0:20:58.359 --> 0:21:01.760 pounds or forty three kilo rams. Now, despite the fact 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:03.960 that it weighed so much and that it was meant 0:21:04.000 --> 0:21:07.119 for an office environment, the fact it had a micro 0:21:07.280 --> 0:21:11.120 processor and it meant that technically speaking, it fell into 0:21:11.160 --> 0:21:15.240 the category of micro computer. While IBM announced the Data 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:19.439 Master in nineteen seventy eight, the computer didn't debut until July. 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:25.680 IBM would announce the PC just a month later, which 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:28.800 sort of resulted in folks forgetting about the Data Master. 0:21:29.320 --> 0:21:33.040 Between the Data Master's announcement and when it launched, something 0:21:33.080 --> 0:21:36.439 else interesting happened. IBM got a little visit from a 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:41.400 company called Atari. At this stage, Atari had already launched 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:45.439 the VCS game system that's essentially they hundred, and it 0:21:45.480 --> 0:21:48.680 had also launched the Atari four hundred and Atari eight 0:21:48.760 --> 0:21:51.840 hundred computer systems. You can listen to the computers that 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:55.560 time forgot to learn more about those. Anyway. Atari made 0:21:55.560 --> 0:21:58.280 a move to suggest that it could design a computer 0:21:58.560 --> 0:22:02.359 for the home market on behalf of IBM, saying, hey, 0:22:02.440 --> 0:22:05.080 you guys are really in there when it comes to 0:22:05.520 --> 0:22:09.520 businesses and research facilities and and government installations and all 0:22:09.520 --> 0:22:11.400 that kind of stuff. If you want to get into 0:22:11.400 --> 0:22:14.320 the home higher us, we can totally build that computer 0:22:14.359 --> 0:22:16.960 for you, guys. The chairman of IBM at that time 0:22:17.240 --> 0:22:20.280 was a guy named Frank Carey, and he relaid the 0:22:20.359 --> 0:22:23.920 offer to a fellow named Bill Low that was ibm 0:22:24.000 --> 0:22:27.199 s director of Entry Systems. Low took it to a 0:22:27.240 --> 0:22:31.920 management committee and collectively they decided that this proposal from 0:22:31.920 --> 0:22:36.560 Atari was bonkers. I might be paraphrasing a little bit, 0:22:36.760 --> 0:22:39.600 but the management team also knew that the chairman was 0:22:39.720 --> 0:22:42.919 really interested in this idea, so they told Low he 0:22:42.960 --> 0:22:45.600 should go form a team, come up with a proposal 0:22:45.680 --> 0:22:50.040 for an IBM personal computer that did not involve Atari 0:22:50.280 --> 0:22:53.240 at all, and then submit that to the committee within 0:22:53.400 --> 0:22:56.600 a month. So Low went out and formed a team 0:22:56.600 --> 0:22:59.280 out of about a dozen or so engineers to work 0:22:59.280 --> 0:23:02.760 on this project. He also contacted Bill Gates and Steve 0:23:02.800 --> 0:23:06.560 Bamber of Microsoft to discuss their collaboration and a hypothetical 0:23:06.600 --> 0:23:09.840 personal computer. This was a big deal for Microsoft, which 0:23:09.880 --> 0:23:13.359 was already a successful company but stood to receive substantial 0:23:13.400 --> 0:23:16.719 benefits if IBM were to partner with them. Here was 0:23:16.760 --> 0:23:21.119 this corporate giant leader in the industry, something that had 0:23:21.119 --> 0:23:25.240 been around for essentially a century if you trace the 0:23:25.320 --> 0:23:28.720 history back to the predecessor companies at any rate, and 0:23:28.760 --> 0:23:32.320 they were reaching out to what was effectively a startup 0:23:32.440 --> 0:23:36.320 software company that wasn't even a decade old yet. Bill 0:23:36.320 --> 0:23:39.000 Gates met with a guy named Jack Sam's who was 0:23:39.040 --> 0:23:43.000 IBM's head of software development, and together they talked about 0:23:43.080 --> 0:23:46.199 the PC market. Sam's was really interested in that Gates 0:23:46.200 --> 0:23:49.520 had his finger on the pulse of that market, and 0:23:49.600 --> 0:23:52.159 he talked about the trends that were emerging in this 0:23:52.359 --> 0:23:56.520 still very young Field. Sam's reported back to Low and 0:23:56.600 --> 0:23:58.439 the rest of the team, and they put together a 0:23:58.480 --> 0:24:03.680 proposal for I b M personal computers. The proposal identified 0:24:03.880 --> 0:24:08.560 Intel as the best source for microchip processors. At the time, 0:24:08.840 --> 0:24:13.200 most personal computers were depending upon one of two major chips. 0:24:13.680 --> 0:24:17.080 There was the six zero two from Most Technologies, which 0:24:17.160 --> 0:24:20.560 was owned by Commodore, or the Z eight from Zylog. 0:24:21.080 --> 0:24:23.959 But these chips were already starting to brush up against 0:24:23.960 --> 0:24:27.639 their technical limitations, and IBM wanted a system that would 0:24:27.640 --> 0:24:31.120 not immediately be too underpowered to run the latest software. 0:24:31.119 --> 0:24:33.640 They wanted to future proof a little bit, so they 0:24:33.680 --> 0:24:38.040 went with the Intel eight chip as the CPU. This 0:24:38.119 --> 0:24:40.919 was more expensive, but it was also more powerful than 0:24:40.960 --> 0:24:44.040 the other microchips available in the market. The team also 0:24:44.080 --> 0:24:47.479 opted to go for a modular approach with the fifty 0:24:47.560 --> 0:24:51.000 one fifty. By modular approach, some people would call this 0:24:51.119 --> 0:24:55.199