25 Years That Have Changed the World.

On August 12th 1981 IBM announced the IBM Personal Computer.  While the IBM PC was not the first of the new generation of machines, the Apple II had already sold a million units; it revolutionized and legitimized the emerging concept of a personal computer.

Perhaps what was so remarkable about IBM PC was what it was not vs. what it was.

Let me explain.  The notion of an IBM PC had been debated internally ever since the Apple II had been introduced.  Even as early as 1975 IBM had attempted to offer a product (the IBM 5100) that could participate in the emerging, technology driven concept of a personal computer.   But the magic key providing a compelling answer to the early swarm of trial balloons proved elusive.

This was an incredible dilemma.  IBM was renowned for its research and technology.  Its mainframes were the standards of the industry.  Its patent portfolio was bulging at the seams.  Its marketing force was without peer.  So what happened?

Every major functional organization had written off the possibility that the concept of the PC was viable or that it was in the best interest of IBM to pursue this class of product.  Manufacturing said that the cost objectives could not be met.  Marketing said that it could not be economically marketed.  Corporate finance said that there was no money in this kind of a venture.  Corporate technical staff said that such an effort was diversionary to the primary thrust of IBM Research and Development.  So what happened?

The IBM Chairman was Frank T. Cary.  He had observed the dramatic growth of the Apple II acceptance and believed that the visible trend was a harbinger of what was to come.  Given the denial of the Corporate and Functional Units Heads he felt compelled to make a very fundamental decision.  He concluded that the only way to insure IBM was not left out in the cold was to create a Product Island that was isolated from all the non-believers.  The Personal Computer Business Unit was formed reporting directly to the Chairman.

Twelve months later the PC was born.  The only IBM technology in the product was the keyboard.  IBM was renowned for the human factors of its keyboards. 

So, the PC did not use IBM technology.  It did not use IBM software.  It did not use IBM marketing.

Every piece of technology used was selected on the basis of a hard fought bidding process and that included the software.  The architecture was to be open to encourage entrepreneurial participation in expanding the application coverage of the product.  The marketing strategy was focused on developing a retail channel that would dramatically reduce the cost of sales.  This resulted in the establishment of Computerland, Sears Roebuck Computer Sales, Micro Age and others as primary outlets for the new systems.

This concept of an openly architected product with the best of available hardware and software made the difference.  The anticipated 5 year forecast was for 250,000 units.  That number was exceeded in just over one year.  The IBM PC may go down in history as the most imitated product ever.

The Personal Computer has become the vehicle by which innumerable new concepts and technologies have been introduced.  Industries that are the backbone of the world economy have been created.  The Internet, the Amazon?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s, E-Bay?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s and Google?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s of the world have transformed the way we buy and research information.  E-mail is reducing the US Postal Service to a secondary player.  Digital Cameras are input devices to our PC based storage systems.  We carry our Personal Communicators with us wherever we go so that we can ?¢‚ǨÀúAlways Be in Touch?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢.  Music travels with us.  Radio is omnipresent.  Video is now traveling with us.  Navigation to any location is punching a few buttons on a GPS device.

And what of the nay sayers?  The IBM PC caused a transformation within the rest of IBM.  What was not previously possible now became reality and thus the shadow of this little machine caused a massive constipation in those who had said no.

Frank T. Cary died this year but I will always remember him for his foresight in breaking the bureaucratic deadlock that almost blocked our future.