1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,000 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve cameray. 2 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:09,000 Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 3 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:18,200 Speaker 1: tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello there, everybody, 4 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Billett, and 5 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:24,959 Speaker 1: I am an editor at how stuff works dot com. 6 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: Sitting acrossing me as always a senior writer, Jonathan Strickland 7 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:33,840 Speaker 1: the heavens, Mrs Sakamoto, you're beautiful. You know. I'm really 8 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 1: glad that Jonathan is decided to switch to song quotes 9 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:41,520 Speaker 1: instead of movie quotes, because with three podcasts on IBM 10 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 1: and yes we're stopping at three, he probably would have 11 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:47,160 Speaker 1: been tempted to quote Tron five or six more times, 12 00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:49,960 Speaker 1: or war games game would have gone back and forth 13 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:54,080 Speaker 1: between those two. It was possibly hackers. That's another good one. 14 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:56,600 Speaker 1: It was just funny because I didn't realize that you 15 00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:00,640 Speaker 1: had quoted Tron so frequently into like, like you quote 16 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 1: a Tron an episode blah blah blah. Also in the 17 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:05,680 Speaker 1: in six episodes later you did again, and in three 18 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:09,680 Speaker 1: episodes later again you really liked Tron. Yeah, I think 19 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:13,480 Speaker 1: he listed forty one total quotes and and maybe three 20 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:16,000 Speaker 1: or four of them were from Tron. Yeah, that was 21 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:18,200 Speaker 1: not on purpose because I didn't keep track of them. 22 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:21,160 Speaker 1: Was a recap in case you're listening, in case you're 23 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:23,560 Speaker 1: just tuning in. IBM was founded and it did a 24 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:26,280 Speaker 1: lot of stuff. Yes, and we decided to do three 25 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:29,200 Speaker 1: podcasts on IBM because someone we we've had people ask 26 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:31,320 Speaker 1: us about the history of of IBM. We we talked 27 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:34,479 Speaker 1: about the history of different commuting companies because uh tech 28 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:38,119 Speaker 1: stuff isn't really about reviews, it's about technology and people. Yes, 29 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:41,200 Speaker 1: and uh so we're sort of fascinated by how these 30 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:44,000 Speaker 1: machines got into our lives, and we thought, oh yeah, 31 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:45,920 Speaker 1: let's let's do a podcast at IBM. And then we 32 00:01:45,959 --> 00:01:48,280 Speaker 1: started researching it and found out you can't do a 33 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:52,200 Speaker 1: podcast about IBM unless it's several hours long writ and 34 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:54,800 Speaker 1: we just don't have that kind of stamina. Uh So, 35 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:57,920 Speaker 1: although some of you kind of get peeved with us 36 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:00,240 Speaker 1: when we do more than one podcast that at time 37 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:02,320 Speaker 1: on stuff, we decided to do allur research at one time, 38 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:05,120 Speaker 1: and thank you for sticking with us, because we've finally 39 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:07,760 Speaker 1: gotten too. They've done so much innovation up into the 40 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:10,920 Speaker 1: point we're reaching today. I mean, they've they've done mainframe computers. 41 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:14,280 Speaker 1: They've they've introduced programming languages, they've helped the space program, 42 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:19,079 Speaker 1: they've helped the military, they've introduced this electric typewriter. Yeah yeah, well, 43 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:21,880 Speaker 1: I mean there were a business machine company, so UM 44 00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 1: they were very interested in all kinds of processing and 45 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:29,600 Speaker 1: and helping people do work. Yes, So at this point 46 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:32,320 Speaker 1: they're really going to change the work landscape because they're 47 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:38,320 Speaker 1: going to introduce a machine that will affect everyone's productivity. Yeah, 48 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:41,440 Speaker 1: so we're we've we've covered IBMS history all the way 49 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:45,240 Speaker 1: up to nineteen eighty one so far, stopping well, stopping 50 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: at nineteen eighty right where we're going to pick up, 51 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:52,480 Speaker 1: and keep in mind that the companies that formed IBM 52 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:54,959 Speaker 1: actually date all the way back to the eighteen the 53 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:58,800 Speaker 1: late eighteen hundreds. Right at the point at which IBM 54 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:01,400 Speaker 1: was founded. There were three companies that were brought together 55 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:05,360 Speaker 1: as a business venture. There was m Herman hollerwas Tabulating 56 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:09,680 Speaker 1: Machine company, which is really what's left of IBM today 57 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:14,160 Speaker 1: is a computing company. There was also a time recording company, 58 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:19,880 Speaker 1: which the IBM divested itself, UM and UH Computing Scale 59 00:03:19,919 --> 00:03:24,040 Speaker 1: Company Computing divested itself of and all and and those 60 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 1: other two companies, the companies that they sold those branches 61 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:32,400 Speaker 1: are all surviving today. So all three were successful. So 62 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:34,720 Speaker 1: they were talking. When you're talking about this a company 63 00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 1: that's nearly a century old, of course you're gonna have 64 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:39,120 Speaker 1: a lot of stuff to cover. Well. In one they 65 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:42,720 Speaker 1: started to forge new ground. Now not entirely new in 66 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:45,120 Speaker 1: the sense that there were other competitors on the market 67 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:50,160 Speaker 1: in but it was the personal computer era. IBM at 68 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:53,240 Speaker 1: this point had not entered the personal computer era. Its 69 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:57,000 Speaker 1: focus was, as Chris was saying, on businesses. Yeah, we 70 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:00,520 Speaker 1: talked about the system's stroke three sixty and three seventy, 71 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:03,640 Speaker 1: which were uh innovative because they weren't just the giant 72 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:07,800 Speaker 1: room filling mainframes. They were modular computers that could be 73 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 1: added onto and part of that equipment including included terminals 74 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:17,000 Speaker 1: UM and before UH, in the in the fifties and sixties, 75 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:21,599 Speaker 1: there were machines that basically had lights and switches, and 76 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:24,880 Speaker 1: you know, before the displays came on the scene, you 77 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:28,719 Speaker 1: couldn't really figure out specifically what you were doing. We 78 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:30,640 Speaker 1: we talked about this in a previous episode a long 79 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:34,160 Speaker 1: time ago, about programming, and they would take a bunch 80 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:37,280 Speaker 1: of punched cards and bring them into the machine, and 81 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:40,520 Speaker 1: you couldn't really tell whether the machine was gonna do 82 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:42,720 Speaker 1: what you wanted it to do until it read through 83 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:45,560 Speaker 1: all the punch cards and then the lights, the appropriate 84 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:48,039 Speaker 1: lights flickered on or off, right, and you would then 85 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:50,680 Speaker 1: know whether or not the program you had designed worked. 86 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:52,279 Speaker 1: And if it didn't work, you had to go back 87 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:54,560 Speaker 1: and go card by card and figure out where the 88 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:57,960 Speaker 1: bugs were in that system and then reprogrammed. And this 89 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:01,680 Speaker 1: just took a long time. So, um, you know, there 90 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:03,760 Speaker 1: were and and this isn't to say that IBM is 91 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:08,039 Speaker 1: the only company and innovating in the computer space, um 92 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:11,320 Speaker 1: during this time, but these are these systems were not 93 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:13,520 Speaker 1: you know, they had terminals at this point and they 94 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:16,560 Speaker 1: were starting to become uh more useful, but they were 95 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:21,240 Speaker 1: using a central computer CPU rather than you know what 96 00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:23,800 Speaker 1: we think of today. Right, All these different terminals were 97 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:27,200 Speaker 1: tapping into the same centralized brain, if you if you will, 98 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:30,159 Speaker 1: and so you can think of it as like UM 99 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:33,239 Speaker 1: time sharing. Right. Often you would have time sharing systems 100 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 1: where a terminal would be able to access the computer's 101 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:41,039 Speaker 1: processing power. But the more terminals you add, the more 102 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:44,719 Speaker 1: you had to divide that up. You couldn't give everyone 103 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:47,320 Speaker 1: unfettered access all the time. Instead, you would have a 104 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 1: system that would schedule when you could access the core. Now, 105 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:55,000 Speaker 1: this would go really fast, so to most people would 106 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:58,240 Speaker 1: seem instantaneous unless there was an unusually heavy load on 107 00:05:58,279 --> 00:06:03,800 Speaker 1: the system. Um. But in effect, you've got someone controlling 108 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:07,560 Speaker 1: all the traffic. Well, let's let's talk about personal computers. Now. 109 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:12,480 Speaker 1: We started seeing the personal computer market developed in the seventies. Yes, 110 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:17,040 Speaker 1: and it was with computers like the al Tear, the Altar. Now, 111 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 1: the al Tear didn't have a monitor, um, but the 112 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:26,200 Speaker 1: TRS eight did. Yeah, that was Tandy's machine. So many 113 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:29,279 Speaker 1: of us remember that had used the floppy disks that 114 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:31,480 Speaker 1: we talked about in the last episode, which were an 115 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:36,279 Speaker 1: IBM innovation. You had. You had an upstart computer company 116 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:39,479 Speaker 1: called Apple that was starting to Yeah, I know, it's 117 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 1: hard to believe that a computer company we called Apple. 118 00:06:42,839 --> 00:06:46,040 Speaker 1: And then there's another computing company you might have heard 119 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:51,520 Speaker 1: of that came out with the Atrip computers. Um, you 120 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:54,520 Speaker 1: had the Common War sixty four coming out in the 121 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:57,600 Speaker 1: early the late seven these early eighties. Um, you had 122 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:00,840 Speaker 1: all these different companies getting into it. Well, IBM, here 123 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:04,640 Speaker 1: you have this this old technology company that has an 124 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:08,159 Speaker 1: incredible history with computing. They get into the market in 125 00:07:08,279 --> 00:07:14,920 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one, they introduced the fifty one fifty personal computer. I. Yes. Now, 126 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:17,760 Speaker 1: if you wonder why we call them PCs or personal computers, 127 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:22,240 Speaker 1: this is why. Yeah, it's um. They they were using 128 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:25,000 Speaker 1: off the shelf components to build this machine. They used 129 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:30,680 Speaker 1: Intel's eight to sixteen bit eight eight eight processor Classic. Yeah, 130 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:33,080 Speaker 1: they were looking at that there. They were also looking 131 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:35,560 Speaker 1: at the possibility of using a Motorola processor or the 132 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:39,160 Speaker 1: eight six from Intel. But they determined that those processors 133 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:41,520 Speaker 1: were actually too powerful for a personal computer. It wasn't 134 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:44,200 Speaker 1: necessary to have that kind of processing power. That's kind 135 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:46,240 Speaker 1: of funny in it. Yeah. Well, you still to this 136 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:48,200 Speaker 1: day have companies that will say, you know what, we 137 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:51,360 Speaker 1: don't need to put that powerful processor into this machine. 138 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 1: Sometimes it's not just because you know, it's not that 139 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:58,280 Speaker 1: they're trying to to mess with the consumer. It's because 140 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:00,240 Speaker 1: they'll say, well, if we put in this powerful chip, 141 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:02,000 Speaker 1: that means we have to figure out how do we 142 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:06,280 Speaker 1: keep it cool? Right right? Well, that's that's evident in laptops. Yeah, 143 00:08:06,320 --> 00:08:09,560 Speaker 1: that's and that's also evident in lower cost machine. If 144 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:12,480 Speaker 1: you don't held devices exactly exactly what I mean. If 145 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:14,120 Speaker 1: you go to a computer store and you go, hey, 146 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:16,840 Speaker 1: that one's only three you know I could get that 147 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:18,640 Speaker 1: computer and I have a computer for three hundred dollars, 148 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 1: It's like, yes, you will, and it will have a slower, 149 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:24,400 Speaker 1: less powerful processor. So when they were looking at the 150 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:28,400 Speaker 1: who would provide the operating system for this machine? They 151 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:32,440 Speaker 1: first went to a company called Digital Research and they said, hey, 152 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:34,280 Speaker 1: you guys want to give us the operating system or 153 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:36,200 Speaker 1: you want to partner with us and provide the operating 154 00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:38,480 Speaker 1: system for a new personal computer. And they said no. 155 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:42,480 Speaker 1: So they went to a different upstart computer company, a 156 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:45,000 Speaker 1: company that started right around the same time as Apple 157 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:48,560 Speaker 1: in fact, and had co founders who were also shared 158 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:53,439 Speaker 1: quite a few uh qualities with the Apple co founders. Yes, yes, 159 00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:54,920 Speaker 1: as a matter of fact, I think we may have 160 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:57,760 Speaker 1: done a podcast on these guys. We may have. Actually, 161 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:01,960 Speaker 1: memory does there is a bell ringing somewhere. That might 162 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:04,280 Speaker 1: be a fire drill or an angels getting its wings. 163 00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:07,320 Speaker 1: It could be Actually you're probably thinking of the disc 164 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:12,320 Speaker 1: operating system. Yes, Microsoft disc operating system. Now Microsoft got 165 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: this operating system originally from Seattle Computer Products, and uh, 166 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:21,120 Speaker 1: Seattle Computer Products had an operating system called q DOSS, 167 00:09:21,559 --> 00:09:25,240 Speaker 1: which do you know the at least the semi apocryphal 168 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:30,079 Speaker 1: name that q DOSS actually refers to this. This may 169 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:31,760 Speaker 1: or may not be true. It's one of those things 170 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:34,720 Speaker 1: that people hold as true, but there's no actual proof. 171 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:40,680 Speaker 1: Q DOSS stands for Quick and Dirty Operating System. So 172 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:44,040 Speaker 1: you've got this, uh, and this was a line command 173 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:47,800 Speaker 1: operating system, right, you would type commands into your on 174 00:09:47,840 --> 00:09:51,480 Speaker 1: your keyboard and look at the display to figure out, 175 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:56,760 Speaker 1: you know, to to actually execute stuff. Um. So Microsoft 176 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:00,520 Speaker 1: buys q DOSS and then adapts it into an operating 177 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:04,760 Speaker 1: system they called PC doss, and then later they renamed 178 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:10,360 Speaker 1: it MS DOSS for Microsoft. Oh so let's talk a 179 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:12,760 Speaker 1: little bit about the fifty one fifty. This was not 180 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:18,640 Speaker 1: a lightweight machine. It weighed approximately twenty five pounds. Well, 181 00:10:18,679 --> 00:10:22,079 Speaker 1: it's lighter than the system slash three sixty. Well yeah, 182 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:24,360 Speaker 1: and I don't actually know that. I'm just taking an 183 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:26,720 Speaker 1: educated guess. You didn't need a hand truck to move 184 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:30,080 Speaker 1: it into your office, so there there was a benefit there, right, 185 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:33,480 Speaker 1: But it wasn't exactly you know, it wasn't a portable system. Um, 186 00:10:33,520 --> 00:10:36,320 Speaker 1: the processor speed on the fifty one fifty was four 187 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:40,800 Speaker 1: point seven seven mega hurts. That's mega hurts. Guys. You 188 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:43,760 Speaker 1: know you have gigga hurts processors like my my phone 189 00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:47,880 Speaker 1: has a giga hurts processor. So that's you know, my 190 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:50,920 Speaker 1: phone is way more powerful as far as the processing 191 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:54,320 Speaker 1: standpoint is concerned than the old of course, you know 192 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:58,840 Speaker 1: that was so the CPU had about twenty nine thousand 193 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:01,160 Speaker 1: transistors on it would sounds like a lot, except now 194 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:04,240 Speaker 1: we're approaching for the consumer market. We are now approaching 195 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:09,680 Speaker 1: one billion transistors on a single processor. Yes, there's a 196 00:11:09,679 --> 00:11:12,560 Speaker 1: lot more than twenty nine thousand. That also shows the 197 00:11:12,559 --> 00:11:16,360 Speaker 1: the whole concept of exponential growth with Moore's law. We've 198 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:18,240 Speaker 1: talked about it a lot, and you know it's hard 199 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:21,120 Speaker 1: to imagine what that really means until you think, all right, 200 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:25,480 Speaker 1: we're talking two thousand eleven now and we're approaching a 201 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:29,839 Speaker 1: billion transistors back there were just twenty nine thousand. That's 202 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:34,640 Speaker 1: that's crazy. Um, the you could get the system for 203 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:37,400 Speaker 1: if you wanted a bare bones system, you could have 204 00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:41,200 Speaker 1: sixteen kilobytes of RAM. It was expandable up to two 205 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:46,640 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty six kilobytes again kilobytes. Uh. Then you 206 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:51,200 Speaker 1: had fortes of ROM read only memory. Uh, and you 207 00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:53,480 Speaker 1: could have up to two five and a quarter inch 208 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:56,320 Speaker 1: disk drives. Man, do you remember the five and a 209 00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:59,400 Speaker 1: quarter inch discs? You do? I'm sure? All right. So guys, 210 00:11:59,440 --> 00:12:01,760 Speaker 1: if you are um, if you're one of our younger listeners, 211 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:03,319 Speaker 1: we got a lot of you out there, five and 212 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:05,960 Speaker 1: a quarter inch discs. You may have seen these in 213 00:12:06,520 --> 00:12:09,640 Speaker 1: books or on television, or on movies, or or or 214 00:12:09,679 --> 00:12:13,000 Speaker 1: maybe you've stumbled across an ancient computer burial mound and 215 00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:15,760 Speaker 1: you've found some. But the five and a quarter inch 216 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:19,800 Speaker 1: discs were these black uh disksmayed out of a very 217 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:22,680 Speaker 1: thin plastic. Some people thought that's why they were called 218 00:12:22,679 --> 00:12:25,360 Speaker 1: floppy disks, because you could actually fold them up. And 219 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:27,880 Speaker 1: that I even remember when I was a kid people 220 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:30,760 Speaker 1: mistakenly identifying three and a half inch discs as hard 221 00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:32,600 Speaker 1: disks because they were made a little a hard plastic 222 00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:37,120 Speaker 1: the outside. That's not that's not true. Inside sloppy. Yeah, 223 00:12:37,360 --> 00:12:39,920 Speaker 1: so you had this very flexible material inside. Yeah, you 224 00:12:39,960 --> 00:12:41,679 Speaker 1: weren't supposed to mess with them too much because they 225 00:12:41,679 --> 00:12:44,880 Speaker 1: could be easily damaged. But that was the storage media 226 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:49,200 Speaker 1: these UH devices used. The original UH did not have 227 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:52,120 Speaker 1: a hard drive, It only had the disk drives UM 228 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:54,640 Speaker 1: and had a monochromatic display. That means, of course, that 229 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:58,120 Speaker 1: the computer screen could only show one color, which was 230 00:12:58,800 --> 00:13:00,920 Speaker 1: not the you know Apple too. We went with green. 231 00:13:01,559 --> 00:13:03,719 Speaker 1: It was like a dark green. The IBM was more 232 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:07,319 Speaker 1: of a white. UH. I remember that being thrown by 233 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:09,640 Speaker 1: that when I got when we got our first IBM computer, 234 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:12,640 Speaker 1: it also could come UH. There was an option to 235 00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:15,880 Speaker 1: get a cassette drive with it, so you would use 236 00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:18,920 Speaker 1: a cassette to store information as opposed to the floppy drive. Now, 237 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:22,360 Speaker 1: the cheapest one of the fifties, the one with the 238 00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:26,640 Speaker 1: sixteen kilobytes around, cost about one thousand, five hundred sixty 239 00:13:26,679 --> 00:13:30,559 Speaker 1: five bucks, which today would be around three thousand, seven 240 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:34,480 Speaker 1: four dollars. Little pricing, little pricing. The if you wanted 241 00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:37,040 Speaker 1: to trick it out, like you wanted to get the 242 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:39,840 Speaker 1: glow and the dark stuff and you know the hemp 243 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:42,400 Speaker 1: and base yeah himmy in there. No. No, if you 244 00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:44,400 Speaker 1: wanted the two hundred six kilobytes a RAM, you've got 245 00:13:44,440 --> 00:13:46,280 Speaker 1: the two disk drives, you've got all of that stuff, 246 00:13:46,679 --> 00:13:50,240 Speaker 1: then you're talking six thousand dollars, which today is over 247 00:13:50,360 --> 00:13:54,240 Speaker 1: fourteen thousand bucks. Yes for a computer. Fourteen dollars for 248 00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:56,320 Speaker 1: a computer. And keep in mind you can't climb into 249 00:13:56,400 --> 00:13:59,560 Speaker 1: this computer and have it drive you places, because I 250 00:13:59,559 --> 00:14:02,079 Speaker 1: think for teen dollars that should be able to transport 251 00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:06,160 Speaker 1: you beyond in your mind. Yeah. Also, I note about 252 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:10,640 Speaker 1: about UM A lot of people not really sold on 253 00:14:10,640 --> 00:14:14,440 Speaker 1: it being Van Halen's best album. Nice I can't drive 254 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:17,920 Speaker 1: fifty five um, actually I can't drive at all. So 255 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:21,680 Speaker 1: the the software that you can get back in those 256 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:25,880 Speaker 1: days included stuff like the Visit couc spreadsheet. I remember 257 00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:30,520 Speaker 1: Visit and easy Writer one point zero easy Writer not 258 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:35,240 Speaker 1: Writer UM and different. And also there was an incredible game, 259 00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:41,280 Speaker 1: Really Adventure, Yes Microsoft Adventure. I was back in the 260 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:44,760 Speaker 1: old fifty days. So yeah, you could pick these up 261 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:48,720 Speaker 1: in um sears or computer Land computer stores at the time. 262 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:51,000 Speaker 1: That's where those were the outlets that were carrying it. 263 00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:55,920 Speaker 1: And this created a PC compatible market. When you if 264 00:14:55,920 --> 00:14:59,040 Speaker 1: you ever heard the term PC compatible or IBM compatible, 265 00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:03,400 Speaker 1: let's talk about other companies that made computers that ran 266 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:06,840 Speaker 1: on using the same components as the IBM computers, which 267 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:09,640 Speaker 1: meant that you could run the same programs that IBM 268 00:15:09,680 --> 00:15:12,480 Speaker 1: computers could run. Yes, and this has a lot to 269 00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:17,840 Speaker 1: do with the market share that Windows has today, yes 270 00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:21,840 Speaker 1: versus Apple's market share. Yeah, you might ask yourself, why 271 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:24,400 Speaker 1: is it that when you walk into a typical office 272 00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:28,200 Speaker 1: you'll see more often than not, you'll see Windows machines 273 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:31,800 Speaker 1: everywhere and only a few max, if any max at all. 274 00:15:32,320 --> 00:15:35,960 Speaker 1: I would argue there are two major reasons. Pray, hit 275 00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:39,280 Speaker 1: me up with those reasons you um. First of all 276 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:44,600 Speaker 1: is that IBM was willing to license this architecture to 277 00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:48,120 Speaker 1: other companies. So there were clones. Yes, you could send 278 00:15:48,120 --> 00:15:51,640 Speaker 1: them in if you like. Thus the IBM compatibles right exactly. 279 00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:55,440 Speaker 1: And Apple specifically did not want to do that. Yeah, 280 00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:58,120 Speaker 1: they experimented it with it for a while when Steve 281 00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:00,560 Speaker 1: Jobs was kind of pushed out of the company and 282 00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:02,640 Speaker 1: it did not go well. And when Steve Jobs came 283 00:16:02,680 --> 00:16:05,720 Speaker 1: back that ended too to sweet. And if you want 284 00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:07,720 Speaker 1: to write in and argue that you may, because there 285 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:10,040 Speaker 1: are people who will argue that it was starting to 286 00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:12,720 Speaker 1: take off with but yeah, I mean it wasn't. It 287 00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:15,960 Speaker 1: wasn't an immediate change, and it was way way after 288 00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 1: this point. This point is where IBM had established itself 289 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:23,280 Speaker 1: in the marketplace. But the other thing that I think 290 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:28,600 Speaker 1: significantly contributed to this is marketing because IBM, as we 291 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:33,200 Speaker 1: have touched on in two podcasts already, is to some degree, 292 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:36,920 Speaker 1: well it's in their name business machines. They're synonymous with 293 00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:41,680 Speaker 1: computing power for companies. Yes, they had they had a 294 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:45,120 Speaker 1: longstanding reputation as being the company to go to for 295 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:49,120 Speaker 1: your technology needs if you were a business and people, 296 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:52,840 Speaker 1: even though they were available at sears and other outlets, 297 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:56,280 Speaker 1: people didn't buy these machines for their homes for the 298 00:16:56,320 --> 00:16:59,320 Speaker 1: most part. Now small business owners started to pick them up. 299 00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:02,800 Speaker 1: Business owners were buying them, small business owners, larger business owners. 300 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:05,720 Speaker 1: Uh they were. They were gobbling them up to use 301 00:17:06,119 --> 00:17:10,000 Speaker 1: at work for work stuff. You didn't have people buying 302 00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:14,800 Speaker 1: gaming PCs because they're dining games out there. That yeah, 303 00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:17,400 Speaker 1: if you were buying games, you were buying them honestly 304 00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:20,200 Speaker 1: the very early days of computer games. Can you remember 305 00:17:20,200 --> 00:17:21,960 Speaker 1: these days where you would go into a computer store 306 00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:24,960 Speaker 1: and there'd be a bulletin board, a cork bulletin board, 307 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:28,960 Speaker 1: and up there you would see penned their little plastic 308 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:32,040 Speaker 1: bags that would contain a disk and a sheet of 309 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:35,639 Speaker 1: instructions and that was what computer games looked like on 310 00:17:35,720 --> 00:17:38,919 Speaker 1: the earliest days. Yeah, I remember those days. That was 311 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:42,280 Speaker 1: before you know you really we could all do a 312 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:45,439 Speaker 1: discussion about the how how computer games evolved. From a 313 00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:48,560 Speaker 1: marketing standpoint, it would actually be pretty fascinating because, like 314 00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:50,119 Speaker 1: I said, those early days, you would go in and 315 00:17:50,119 --> 00:17:52,320 Speaker 1: it would be it might even be a local programmer 316 00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:54,840 Speaker 1: who built that game and then just copied it onto 317 00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:58,440 Speaker 1: as many discs as he or she could, and then contacted, 318 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:02,200 Speaker 1: say a hobby store, and sold them through the hobby store. 319 00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:05,199 Speaker 1: Later on you would get into the more the larger 320 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:09,680 Speaker 1: distributing models of companies forming around creating video games. I 321 00:18:09,720 --> 00:18:11,600 Speaker 1: think Richard Garriott was one of the first people to 322 00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:14,919 Speaker 1: really demand that his games be packaged in a box 323 00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:17,960 Speaker 1: as opposed to in a in a ziplock bag. But 324 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:23,040 Speaker 1: getting back to the the the IBM, the personal computer. Yeah, 325 00:18:23,119 --> 00:18:26,480 Speaker 1: it really did well in small business and large business markets. 326 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:28,880 Speaker 1: It started to pick up in the home market as 327 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:32,800 Speaker 1: well for more affluent people obviously, because you know, asking 328 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:36,199 Speaker 1: folks to to drop dollars on a computer, that's a 329 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:39,240 Speaker 1: lot of money, even if even if you were just 330 00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:43,040 Speaker 1: saying fifteen hundred dollars today, without taking inflation into account, 331 00:18:43,040 --> 00:18:45,440 Speaker 1: that's still a lot of money to ask for a computer. Well, yeah, 332 00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:49,119 Speaker 1: people people complain about that all the time, about computers 333 00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:51,040 Speaker 1: that cost more than a thousand dollars. I see that 334 00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:53,000 Speaker 1: all the time. Well, that's just too much. Well, and 335 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:55,880 Speaker 1: it's why, it's why some people think of Apple as 336 00:18:55,920 --> 00:19:00,800 Speaker 1: being a boutique computer system as opposed to, you know, 337 00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:04,240 Speaker 1: a personal computer that you would normally think of. People 338 00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:07,440 Speaker 1: think of Apples being almost a laitist because the products 339 00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:11,240 Speaker 1: are more expensive. Although you could also just just as 340 00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:13,600 Speaker 1: easily argue, well, you're paying for quality. You know, you're 341 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:15,479 Speaker 1: paying for the quality of the parts in there. And 342 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:19,440 Speaker 1: because the computer market on the PC side is more 343 00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:23,280 Speaker 1: piecemeal that you can put together computers based upon whatever 344 00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:26,399 Speaker 1: off the shelf components are out there that you also 345 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:30,000 Speaker 1: are you know, just just as the parts come from 346 00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:33,640 Speaker 1: all different parts of the world. Uh, the quality spans 347 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:37,520 Speaker 1: the entire spectrum between really awesome computers and really really 348 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:42,720 Speaker 1: kind of not so awesome, crappy machines. Well, something that 349 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:45,240 Speaker 1: was there was something holding it back. What's that? That 350 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:47,320 Speaker 1: would be the operating system you were just talking about, 351 00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:52,800 Speaker 1: Because doss is not necessarily user friendly. It can be 352 00:19:53,359 --> 00:19:57,440 Speaker 1: willing to learn. I actually I was. I was a 353 00:19:57,520 --> 00:20:01,119 Speaker 1: Doss fanboy, and that I had bothered to learn all 354 00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:03,359 Speaker 1: the commands, and it was it came naturally to me. 355 00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:06,439 Speaker 1: Granted I was learning TOSS in that time of my 356 00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:09,439 Speaker 1: life when I was when that the language centers in 357 00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:12,399 Speaker 1: my brain were really receptive to stuff. If I were 358 00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:14,239 Speaker 1: trying to learn it today, I'd be like, what the 359 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:18,800 Speaker 1: heck this is? Give me, give me a graphic user interface. 360 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:24,400 Speaker 1: This I can't know. Uh, the around the room right right, 361 00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:26,520 Speaker 1: or I throw the machine across the floor. I mean 362 00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:30,880 Speaker 1: I really six on one, half a dozen on the other. Well, yeah, 363 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:33,399 Speaker 1: the you know later on in the eighties and the 364 00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:38,199 Speaker 1: early in the early mid eighties. Um, now, and then 365 00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:41,159 Speaker 1: we gonna just give a year, I would say, I 366 00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:43,520 Speaker 1: would say eighty four. But yeah, I mean the the 367 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:47,320 Speaker 1: PC was out for a couple of years before Apple's 368 00:20:47,359 --> 00:20:51,200 Speaker 1: Macintosh at the scene, before the Amiga hit the scene. Uh, 369 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:54,360 Speaker 1: Commodores Amiga, before uh the Atar e s T hit 370 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:59,280 Speaker 1: the scene. With graphical user interfaces. Yeah, the Xerox had 371 00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:01,720 Speaker 1: been working on in the graphic interface. Yeah, that was 372 00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:05,119 Speaker 1: back in the seventies actually before but they weren't on 373 00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:08,560 Speaker 1: these devices. No, the personal computers were all these line 374 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 1: based UM. You would actually type commands in to make 375 00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:17,320 Speaker 1: things happen U. Yeah. IBM released the personal computer XT, 376 00:21:18,119 --> 00:21:21,480 Speaker 1: which provided more memory. It also introduced the dual sided 377 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:25,240 Speaker 1: diskette drive UM and it had a fixed desk drive 378 00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:28,879 Speaker 1: which we now really referred to as a hard drive UM. 379 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:32,280 Speaker 1: And they also introduced a color printer. And personally in 380 00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:35,639 Speaker 1: the business side, IBM was also uh doing things with 381 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:39,320 Speaker 1: personal banking machines and robotic systems. They were working they 382 00:21:39,359 --> 00:21:41,960 Speaker 1: While we're talking about personal computers, keep in mind IBM 383 00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:45,199 Speaker 1: on the on on their research and development side, they 384 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:48,400 Speaker 1: haven't stopped. They're still pouring lots of money and time 385 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:50,679 Speaker 1: and effort into research and development. They're coming up with 386 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:53,280 Speaker 1: really cool stuff. We're mostly focusing on the personal computers 387 00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:55,520 Speaker 1: for this podcast, but that doesn't mean that that was 388 00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:59,320 Speaker 1: where IBM's entire focus lay at the time. Yeah. Definitely 389 00:21:59,359 --> 00:22:01,320 Speaker 1: if you're interested in learning all the stuff that they 390 00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:03,560 Speaker 1: were doing as time and it is rather fascinating. If 391 00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:07,200 Speaker 1: you like computer history, the Computer History Museum and IBMS 392 00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:11,400 Speaker 1: archives are great free places to look for information on that. 393 00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:13,960 Speaker 1: And we're we're skimming over some of that except for 394 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:18,000 Speaker 1: the some of the really interesting tidbits on company culture 395 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:20,639 Speaker 1: and things. But I'm glad that you left one of 396 00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:24,719 Speaker 1: the things off once that happened in Remember we were 397 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:28,120 Speaker 1: just talking a minute ago about how personal computers were 398 00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:32,760 Speaker 1: mostly for businesses at this point. UM I would argue 399 00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:37,280 Speaker 1: maybe except for really hardcore computer enthusiasts, and we had 400 00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:40,240 Speaker 1: quite a few of those from dating from the sixties 401 00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:43,679 Speaker 1: and seventies into the eighties. They came out with IBM 402 00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:45,440 Speaker 1: decided to come out with a computer that was really 403 00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:50,360 Speaker 1: designed to be an affordable in home computer, and they 404 00:22:50,359 --> 00:22:55,600 Speaker 1: called it the PC Junior, also known as you remember 405 00:22:55,600 --> 00:23:01,240 Speaker 1: its nickname, the Peanut, and they had this is a 406 00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:04,040 Speaker 1: period of time, and this enabled Apple to get a 407 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:06,320 Speaker 1: foothold with some people. This is a period of time 408 00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:08,959 Speaker 1: when IBM the coolest commercials. I remember this growing up, 409 00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:14,200 Speaker 1: where they had the Charlie Chaplin impersonator person talking about 410 00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:16,920 Speaker 1: the PC and the PC Junior and how easy the 411 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:19,320 Speaker 1: PC Junior was to to use. And now I remember 412 00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:23,040 Speaker 1: it had a little chicklate keyboard, which was kind of 413 00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:25,640 Speaker 1: common on the less expensive computers where had the little 414 00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:31,639 Speaker 1: rubberized keys the thing bombed, but not again people right 415 00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:33,320 Speaker 1: in and say, no, it didn't. It's they sold a 416 00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:37,159 Speaker 1: lot of them, but it just wasn't what the PC was. 417 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:40,679 Speaker 1: And you know, it was a good entry into the 418 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:43,360 Speaker 1: home market, I would say, but not what you would 419 00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:47,040 Speaker 1: think of as a really successful product launch now and 420 00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:50,320 Speaker 1: it's it's it's flaws were obvious enough to a lot 421 00:23:50,359 --> 00:23:53,359 Speaker 1: of people that people ridiculed. It's sort of like Microsoft, Bob. 422 00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:57,520 Speaker 1: So let's talk about for a second. This is a 423 00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:00,560 Speaker 1: big year in personal computing in general. Right, we're not 424 00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:03,720 Speaker 1: talking about van Halen Halen albums again. Though, we're not 425 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:07,200 Speaker 1: talking about van Halen albums again. Although four I wore 426 00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:12,480 Speaker 1: it down, might as well jump um which ironically before Yeah, 427 00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:17,000 Speaker 1: so eight four rolls around and then um, you may 428 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:21,040 Speaker 1: have seen the infamous commercial that aired during the Super 429 00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:25,639 Speaker 1: Bowl in four, the Apple commercial that was for the 430 00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:28,600 Speaker 1: Apple mac computer Macintosh. I should say it was the 431 00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:30,920 Speaker 1: full name Apple Macintosh. Yes, we think of it now 432 00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:33,760 Speaker 1: as the Mac Classic, the all in one, little black 433 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:37,600 Speaker 1: and white box. UM that used the motor rolla processor. 434 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:41,880 Speaker 1: Um and uh, actually you know what, we I think 435 00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:46,600 Speaker 1: we've left that out because in two IBM actually took 436 00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:49,680 Speaker 1: a stake and Intel, Um, this is where it gets 437 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:53,560 Speaker 1: they start sort of crossing over because um, the Macintosh 438 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:55,480 Speaker 1: they were for their marketing, they were pointing out that 439 00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:57,800 Speaker 1: it was a it had a g u I graphical 440 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:01,840 Speaker 1: user interface, gooey. Um. It was easier to use, they 441 00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:04,119 Speaker 1: were saying, than the IBM PC because look at all 442 00:25:04,119 --> 00:25:07,880 Speaker 1: these books that Charlie Chaplin wants you to read. Um. Well, 443 00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:12,040 Speaker 1: and their commercial made it look like IBM was this 444 00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:16,280 Speaker 1: Orwellian big brother organization and what they were doing huge, 445 00:25:16,320 --> 00:25:18,399 Speaker 1: They were huge company. Yeah. They were playing up the 446 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:22,160 Speaker 1: fact that IBM had this this hundred year old history, 447 00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:24,480 Speaker 1: nearly a hundred year old history exact, that it was 448 00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:28,639 Speaker 1: permeating all aspects of business, that they were dominating, and 449 00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:32,440 Speaker 1: that they were oppressive. They were essentially turning IBM's reputation 450 00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:35,800 Speaker 1: against IBM exactly and said, what about the rebels, what 451 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:38,560 Speaker 1: about the people who don't want to conform, who don't 452 00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:41,399 Speaker 1: want to just march in step with everyone else, here's 453 00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:46,480 Speaker 1: the machine for you, Apple Macintosh. Ironically, now those people 454 00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:49,280 Speaker 1: are using. If you're marketing to that group of people, 455 00:25:49,359 --> 00:25:53,760 Speaker 1: you're talking Linux. Yeah. Yeah, Because because Apple ended up saying, hey, 456 00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:56,560 Speaker 1: you know that Orwellian thing. We do it way better 457 00:25:56,600 --> 00:26:01,480 Speaker 1: than IBM never did. UM. It's little commentary from Jonathan 458 00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:05,400 Speaker 1: well And and not completely unwarranted because Apple is known 459 00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:09,880 Speaker 1: for having closed off system. Again, their advantages and disadvantage. 460 00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:11,840 Speaker 1: We've talked about this countless times in the podcast. Their 461 00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:16,959 Speaker 1: advantages and disadvantages to both options. But so in this 462 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:19,720 Speaker 1: case it's sort of ironic. Yeah, and so that really 463 00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:23,600 Speaker 1: stepped up this, uh, this competition between IBM and and Apple. 464 00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:28,760 Speaker 1: IBM nine four introduced the PC a T, which the 465 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:31,720 Speaker 1: that was the most powerful personal computer at that time. 466 00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:36,400 Speaker 1: And also they started to introduce the PC network, which 467 00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:38,919 Speaker 1: was a system that allowed customers to link up to 468 00:26:39,119 --> 00:26:43,680 Speaker 1: seventy two PCs together. So this is the precursor really 469 00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:46,800 Speaker 1: of a local area network UM. And it showed that 470 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:50,400 Speaker 1: IBM was already thinking ahead, excuse me, ahead to these 471 00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:55,119 Speaker 1: systems that would allow consumers and and businesses really to 472 00:26:55,320 --> 00:26:59,480 Speaker 1: create a collaborative environment. Just as a historical note, of course, 473 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:04,080 Speaker 1: darpnet already exists at this point. It had been created 474 00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:08,879 Speaker 1: for government use back in the UH the sixties and 475 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:12,359 Speaker 1: seventies really UM, and then of course for educational institutions. 476 00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:15,200 Speaker 1: But again, it's not something that the average person uses 477 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:18,639 Speaker 1: like it like he or she does today. Computer networks 478 00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:21,240 Speaker 1: were pretty rare. You would usually only find them in 479 00:27:21,280 --> 00:27:24,080 Speaker 1: proprietary systems, so you would have this and and a 480 00:27:24,119 --> 00:27:26,440 Speaker 1: lot of them were more like time sharing systems where 481 00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:29,439 Speaker 1: you had terminals that tapped into a centralized computer. It 482 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:32,560 Speaker 1: wasn't a true network in the sense of each each 483 00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:36,760 Speaker 1: outlet is its own computer that then communicates with other 484 00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:39,720 Speaker 1: computers on the system. Right. Ethernet was invented in the 485 00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:43,360 Speaker 1: early seventies, but you wouldn't find an Ethernet port on 486 00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:48,200 Speaker 1: an IBM PC introduced in just those technologies took a 487 00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:50,679 Speaker 1: while to come together. Right, So do you do you 488 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:53,480 Speaker 1: happen to know what kind of processor the A T 489 00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:57,400 Speaker 1: had on it? No, I don't. The eighty two eight 490 00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:02,000 Speaker 1: six the to A A D six processor from Intel. 491 00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:05,200 Speaker 1: It had it actually up the speed. Remember the old 492 00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:09,040 Speaker 1: speed of the PC was four of the processor speed 493 00:28:09,119 --> 00:28:12,040 Speaker 1: was four point seven seven Mega hurts. The two six 494 00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:15,040 Speaker 1: boosted that to six mega hurts, so it was a 495 00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:18,919 Speaker 1: more powerful processor. The two six was also the first 496 00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:23,240 Speaker 1: IBM machine that my family owned, IBM two eight six 497 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:26,560 Speaker 1: um and now we can we can start skipping ahead 498 00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:28,359 Speaker 1: some we we've spent a good amount of time. Do 499 00:28:28,359 --> 00:28:30,480 Speaker 1: you have something specific you wanted to point out? Um, 500 00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:33,240 Speaker 1: Since since we've been focusing primarily on the computers, I 501 00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:36,320 Speaker 1: wanted to note a couple again kind of interesting things. 502 00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:41,960 Speaker 1: In eighty three, um IBM was using scandaling tunneling microscopy, yes, 503 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:46,880 Speaker 1: for to create three dimensional images of on of the 504 00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:52,000 Speaker 1: atomic surfaces of gold, silicon, nickel, and other solids. Which 505 00:28:52,040 --> 00:28:54,200 Speaker 1: is just an interesting note that they were working on 506 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:58,080 Speaker 1: this kind of technology, but at that scale. Again, these 507 00:28:58,080 --> 00:29:02,120 Speaker 1: are the laying the foundations for tiny little processors for 508 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:05,400 Speaker 1: stuff on the nano scale. Again, this is gonna happen. 509 00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:09,000 Speaker 1: They're also gonna play with development that scanning tunneling microscope 510 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:11,560 Speaker 1: in just a few years to do something clever. So 511 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:14,520 Speaker 1: we'll talk about that in just a second. Yeah. So 512 00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:19,880 Speaker 1: in night they IBM introduces the first computer running on 513 00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:24,480 Speaker 1: the three six processor, and in nine they are the 514 00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:27,880 Speaker 1: first computer company to use intels for eighty six processor, 515 00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:29,520 Speaker 1: although it would be a couple of years before that 516 00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:38,120 Speaker 1: would hit the actual consumer market. They introduced Prodigy. Oh wait, 517 00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:42,760 Speaker 1: wait a minute, wait eighty nine Because I was going 518 00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:45,200 Speaker 1: to uh, I saw one other thing I wanted to mention. 519 00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:49,520 Speaker 1: Oh all right, well, m that's a storage thing. Okay, 520 00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:53,640 Speaker 1: did you notice that they there's so much information at 521 00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:56,320 Speaker 1: this point I was skiing skimming to be honest, so 522 00:29:56,400 --> 00:30:00,080 Speaker 1: much per year. Yeah, that's the thing. IBM a so 523 00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:04,280 Speaker 1: big by the late eighties that it has multiple divisions, 524 00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:08,680 Speaker 1: it's got presents worldwide. They got scientists, uh you know, 525 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:11,280 Speaker 1: packed in like Sartain may have R and D centers 526 00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:14,360 Speaker 1: all over the place. Well, some some scientists and engineers 527 00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:18,960 Speaker 1: were able to set a new world record in magnetic storage. 528 00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:21,960 Speaker 1: They were able to store a billion bits of information 529 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:25,320 Speaker 1: on a single square inch of disk space a gig 530 00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:30,320 Speaker 1: a bit. That's pretty impressive. And I'm sure that amount 531 00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:33,400 Speaker 1: of storage costs you a lot of money compared to 532 00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:36,360 Speaker 1: how much it would cost now. All right, So getting 533 00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:40,440 Speaker 1: back to Prodigy, Prodigy was essentially an online service provider 534 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:44,080 Speaker 1: type of service. You could log in and go shopping 535 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:46,880 Speaker 1: on it, or you could read the latest news. So 536 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:49,960 Speaker 1: it's kind of a precursor to the Internet, right, Yeah, 537 00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:53,560 Speaker 1: and so OSP we were talking about, uh, we talked 538 00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:56,800 Speaker 1: about online service providers a long time ago. So things 539 00:30:56,840 --> 00:31:00,600 Speaker 1: like all L and Prodigy both kind of had had 540 00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:05,600 Speaker 1: their their roots in that, but in ninety they also 541 00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:08,240 Speaker 1: there was also an interesting development. We you talked about 542 00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:12,680 Speaker 1: the scanning tunneling microscope. That's when scientists began to use 543 00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:19,160 Speaker 1: it to manipulate individual atoms. Yes, so you work at IBM. 544 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:21,959 Speaker 1: You're a why this is a mena? This is just 545 00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:27,400 Speaker 1: hypothetical case. Hypothetically, I got it. It's you're a scientist, 546 00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:30,320 Speaker 1: you work for IBM. You have just figured out how 547 00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:33,800 Speaker 1: to manipulate individual atoms. What do you do with that knowledge? 548 00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:38,880 Speaker 1: I don't know? And you know, create world peace, solve 549 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:43,920 Speaker 1: the hunger problem. That's so wrong. That's when I use 550 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:47,880 Speaker 1: the scanning scanning tunneling microscope to arrange atoms so that 551 00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:52,800 Speaker 1: they spell out the letters IBM on the atomic scale. Yeah, okay, 552 00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:54,560 Speaker 1: that sounds like this sounds like I've been kind of 553 00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:57,160 Speaker 1: eat this. This was actually pretty cool. And there are 554 00:31:57,200 --> 00:31:59,400 Speaker 1: pictures We've talked about this before on the podcast, but 555 00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:03,440 Speaker 1: there are pictures on the web of IBM spelled out 556 00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:06,600 Speaker 1: in individual atoms and they were all pushed around by 557 00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:11,880 Speaker 1: a scanning tunneling microscope. Yes, and the nineties were actually 558 00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:15,960 Speaker 1: sort of a difficult period for IBM, and in several ways. Yeah, 559 00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:19,680 Speaker 1: they tried to introduce the PC radio in nine, which 560 00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:22,800 Speaker 1: was a battery powered mobile computer and it could actually 561 00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:26,840 Speaker 1: transmit data via radio or telephone or cellular communication. The 562 00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:30,320 Speaker 1: idea here was that IBM was trying to make computers 563 00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:33,160 Speaker 1: that people who had to go out on service calls 564 00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:36,400 Speaker 1: or who had to be remote from a centralized location 565 00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:40,000 Speaker 1: could still use a computer system without having to just 566 00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:42,080 Speaker 1: you know, save up all the data and wait till 567 00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:44,600 Speaker 1: you got back to the office to to type everything up. 568 00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:48,480 Speaker 1: But you know that it was again a precursor to 569 00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:51,800 Speaker 1: the mobile computers of today, but didn't do incredibly well. 570 00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:56,000 Speaker 1: They also introduced the PS two L forty s X. 571 00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:59,880 Speaker 1: Do you know what that was the very first I 572 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:06,280 Speaker 1: b M laptop. Oh, it was enormous, Yes it was. 573 00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:12,200 Speaker 1: It was technically portable, so was the first Apple. All right, 574 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:14,800 Speaker 1: that was technically portable, but um but yeah, I wouldn't 575 00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:17,600 Speaker 1: recommend carrying it for very long. Uh. And it could 576 00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:20,600 Speaker 1: hold a head up to eighteen megabytes of memory and 577 00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:24,800 Speaker 1: an internal modem that worked at and a facts modem 578 00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:28,800 Speaker 1: that could go up to um. So it was you know, 579 00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:30,360 Speaker 1: it was meant for people who did a lot of 580 00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:34,320 Speaker 1: business travel UH and needed to have a computer with 581 00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:36,520 Speaker 1: them when they traveled around, the same reason why we 582 00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:39,480 Speaker 1: have laptops today. Really, it's just that it was a 583 00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:44,479 Speaker 1: little bulkier back then, little boxier, a little heavier, significantly heavier. 584 00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:48,320 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, but um yeah, there are there are 585 00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:52,960 Speaker 1: a lot of things going on here too, UM OS two. Yes, 586 00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:55,920 Speaker 1: OS two, We didn't really we didn't really talking about 587 00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:57,680 Speaker 1: the O s because that was more of a Most 588 00:33:57,680 --> 00:34:03,280 Speaker 1: people operated with the DOSS system. You could get UH 589 00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:06,880 Speaker 1: business operating system, the same one that was running on 590 00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:11,040 Speaker 1: IBM's business computers, but those tended to be more expensive 591 00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:13,239 Speaker 1: and a lot of people just opted for the less 592 00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:17,080 Speaker 1: expensive MS DOSS version. So in addition to OS two UM, 593 00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:19,920 Speaker 1: IBM is also working in a partnership with Motorola to 594 00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:25,160 Speaker 1: create reduced instruction set computing chips the power PC chips 595 00:34:25,160 --> 00:34:28,400 Speaker 1: which were in Macintosh computers in the late UH in 596 00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:32,440 Speaker 1: the late nineties, UM which replaced the Motorola sixty eight 597 00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:35,880 Speaker 1: thousand series ships that used in the in the eighties 598 00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:38,920 Speaker 1: and early nineties. You know, Intel, even though they had 599 00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:42,240 Speaker 1: a stake in Intel for a while, they were using 600 00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:45,960 Speaker 1: the complex and instruction set computing, so you have their 601 00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:50,360 Speaker 1: competing on computing with Intel and the on the processors 602 00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:54,120 Speaker 1: they're competing and operating systems with Windows. This is a 603 00:34:54,120 --> 00:34:59,000 Speaker 1: difficult time for IBM because they're having struggles where you know, 604 00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:01,480 Speaker 1: they've they've been the dominant player in the market for 605 00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:05,239 Speaker 1: so long, but Intel came along, Apples come along, and 606 00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:08,160 Speaker 1: Microsoft has come along, and these guys are not going away. 607 00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:10,319 Speaker 1: And you've got all these computers now that are out 608 00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:13,840 Speaker 1: there that are based on this IBM architecture. So IBM 609 00:35:13,960 --> 00:35:17,839 Speaker 1: branded computers aren't necessarily the top dog anymore. Right, You've 610 00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:20,120 Speaker 1: got all the you've got all these different options. If 611 00:35:20,160 --> 00:35:24,319 Speaker 1: you want a PC, like a Microsoft, a PC that's 612 00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:28,200 Speaker 1: running Microsoft operating system, you don't have to buy it 613 00:35:28,239 --> 00:35:31,320 Speaker 1: from IBM. And right, So IBM kind of got out 614 00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:33,439 Speaker 1: of that game a little bit, even to the point 615 00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:36,200 Speaker 1: where their think Pad line, which was their notebook line, 616 00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:39,800 Speaker 1: they ended up licensing out to Lenovo. Yeah, they essentially 617 00:35:39,880 --> 00:35:45,040 Speaker 1: divested themselves of the personal computer business more or less 618 00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:48,840 Speaker 1: when they decided to let Lenovo take that over. And 619 00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:51,120 Speaker 1: I think a lot of people, myself included, were a 620 00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:54,400 Speaker 1: little taken aback by that. Yeah, because he said IBM 621 00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:56,719 Speaker 1: getting out of the personal computer business. Well, we've got 622 00:35:56,800 --> 00:35:58,359 Speaker 1: to remember that Chris and I grew up in a 623 00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:02,399 Speaker 1: time where IBM was almost synonymous with personal computers. In fact, 624 00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:04,600 Speaker 1: that's what we really knew them for anyway, because we 625 00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:07,520 Speaker 1: were too young to be using the business stuff apart 626 00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:11,200 Speaker 1: from this electric typewriter. UM. So for us, IBM meant 627 00:36:11,320 --> 00:36:13,400 Speaker 1: personal computers. So when they got out of it, you're like, 628 00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:15,120 Speaker 1: what else do they do? And then you start looking 629 00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:19,040 Speaker 1: into and oh everything, then that makes sense. Um. You know, 630 00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:21,160 Speaker 1: they introduced a lot of stuff in the nineties too. 631 00:36:21,160 --> 00:36:23,960 Speaker 1: They introduced the three and a half inch disk drive. Uh. 632 00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:27,160 Speaker 1: They also Uh in the nineties, there was a big, 633 00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:30,759 Speaker 1: big thing that that made the news worldwide, which was 634 00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:35,600 Speaker 1: the infamous match between Deep Blue and Gary Kasparov, the 635 00:36:36,120 --> 00:36:39,760 Speaker 1: chess champion will Deep Blue was an IBM computer named 636 00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:43,600 Speaker 1: because ibm s color is blue, they're known as Big Blue. 637 00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:46,600 Speaker 1: So Deep Blue went up against Kasparov on the first 638 00:36:46,600 --> 00:36:49,080 Speaker 1: series of games. Kasparov came out the winner, but there 639 00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:52,799 Speaker 1: was a rematch and Deep Blue ended up defeating Kasparov. 640 00:36:53,320 --> 00:36:56,800 Speaker 1: And this kind of showed ibm s um work into 641 00:36:56,840 --> 00:37:03,440 Speaker 1: developing artificial intelligence computer processing ability. Uh, all those sort 642 00:37:03,480 --> 00:37:06,960 Speaker 1: of things, and it's it's work that IBM continues to 643 00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:10,319 Speaker 1: this day. The Watson computer is another example of that, 644 00:37:10,360 --> 00:37:13,480 Speaker 1: where they've put their thought together about how can we 645 00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:18,480 Speaker 1: create a machine that understands semantics, that can can decide 646 00:37:18,560 --> 00:37:21,600 Speaker 1: upon an answer based upon the probability that it's the 647 00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:26,000 Speaker 1: correct one. How can it judge between various responses to 648 00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:29,200 Speaker 1: a query and pick the one that's the most appropriate. 649 00:37:29,719 --> 00:37:32,360 Speaker 1: These are not small challenges, and it's the sort of 650 00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:35,759 Speaker 1: stuff that IBM Research and Development concentrates on. Now it's 651 00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:39,040 Speaker 1: the stuff that drives our technology to the next level. 652 00:37:39,080 --> 00:37:40,719 Speaker 1: So it's it's stuff that we may not see in 653 00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:43,720 Speaker 1: the consumer market for years and years, but it's it's 654 00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:48,920 Speaker 1: the pioneering work that's necessary for us to move forward. Yeah, definitely, 655 00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:51,359 Speaker 1: definitely so. And you know, ib i'm never really got 656 00:37:51,360 --> 00:37:54,720 Speaker 1: out of the business of making very large computing UH 657 00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:59,960 Speaker 1: hardware for organizations of all kinds. It's about to say businesses, 658 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:04,319 Speaker 1: but really, you know, all sorts of organizations because that 659 00:38:04,480 --> 00:38:10,000 Speaker 1: kind of equipment is necessary for computing high end projects. 660 00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:14,239 Speaker 1: You know, even still doing today doing Herman Hollerith's work 661 00:38:14,320 --> 00:38:18,239 Speaker 1: of tabulating data um. You know, they for a long 662 00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:22,400 Speaker 1: time they they have uh, participated in calculating results for 663 00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:27,840 Speaker 1: the Olympics. Uh, all kinds of projects, the census on 664 00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:31,960 Speaker 1: and off. Um, you know, just amazing stuff. And you 665 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:34,440 Speaker 1: don't really these are things that you don't see like 666 00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:37,600 Speaker 1: you do the computer on your desktop. Um. But it's 667 00:38:37,719 --> 00:38:40,680 Speaker 1: it's certainly true that IBM is still a dominant player 668 00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:44,000 Speaker 1: in in the industry. And even as we touched on 669 00:38:44,040 --> 00:38:47,040 Speaker 1: in the last episode, the uh, the subtle advances they 670 00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:53,919 Speaker 1: were making in the ability for computers to recognize human speech. UM. 671 00:38:53,960 --> 00:38:56,160 Speaker 1: You know, we were kind of chuckling about it because 672 00:38:56,160 --> 00:38:59,520 Speaker 1: it was it was years before Watson ever made its 673 00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:03,799 Speaker 1: appearance on Jeopardy, decades really, but it was able to 674 00:39:03,960 --> 00:39:05,880 Speaker 1: you know, there was a device that he came up with. 675 00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:09,600 Speaker 1: It could have a thousand word vocabulary and could transcribe 676 00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:14,400 Speaker 1: speech within you know, accuracy rate. That's you know, these things, 677 00:39:14,480 --> 00:39:17,960 Speaker 1: these little steps add up to big advances in computing 678 00:39:17,960 --> 00:39:20,080 Speaker 1: in just more than a hundred years. I think I 679 00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:22,440 Speaker 1: can sum that up with that's one small step for 680 00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:27,520 Speaker 1: an international business machines company, one giant leap for me. 681 00:39:29,080 --> 00:39:31,560 Speaker 1: Let's wrap this up, shall we. We We have talked about 682 00:39:31,600 --> 00:39:34,840 Speaker 1: IBM for three podcasts and now we are done for 683 00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:37,320 Speaker 1: the time being, four if you count the Watson podcast. 684 00:39:37,840 --> 00:39:41,799 Speaker 1: Um So, guys, this was really fascinating for for us 685 00:39:42,120 --> 00:39:44,520 Speaker 1: on our end, We really enjoyed being able to dive 686 00:39:44,600 --> 00:39:48,440 Speaker 1: down and and look at the rich history of this company. 687 00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:50,760 Speaker 1: If you have any companies you think we should concentrate 688 00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:54,239 Speaker 1: on next, well, not immediately next, We're gonna take a 689 00:39:54,239 --> 00:39:56,000 Speaker 1: break from the business side for a little bit and 690 00:39:56,040 --> 00:39:58,640 Speaker 1: we'll have a few other episodes that relate to other stuff. 691 00:39:58,960 --> 00:40:01,200 Speaker 1: But if there's an other company you think that we 692 00:40:01,239 --> 00:40:04,040 Speaker 1: should treat with this sort of this sort of in 693 00:40:04,200 --> 00:40:06,520 Speaker 1: depth coverage, let us know. You can let us know 694 00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:09,440 Speaker 1: on Twitter or Facebook are handled. There is tech Stuff 695 00:40:09,600 --> 00:40:12,120 Speaker 1: hs W or you can shoot us an email and 696 00:40:12,120 --> 00:40:15,600 Speaker 1: that address is tech stuff at how stuff works dot 697 00:40:15,640 --> 00:40:17,400 Speaker 1: com and Chris and I will talk to you again 698 00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:22,839 Speaker 1: really soon. For moralness and thousands of other topics. Visit 699 00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:25,719 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. To learn more about the podcast, 700 00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:28,440 Speaker 1: click on the podcast icon in the upper right corner 701 00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:32,600 Speaker 1: of our homepage. The How Stuff Works iPhone app has arrived. 702 00:40:32,719 --> 00:40:40,000 Speaker 1: Download it today on iTunes. Brought to you by the 703 00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:43,359 Speaker 1: reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, Are you