The PC's 25th birthday
With a starting price of around $1500, 16 kilobytes of memory and 5¼" diskettes or audio cassettes to load and save data, a monochrome display, keyboard, matrix printer and BASIC language interpreter, the IBM 5150 was introduced to the world exactly today August 12, but 25 years ago.
IBM's previous attempts to launch a PC had failed, in 1980 a crew of IBM experts, with authorization to bypass normal company restrictions, was given the task to assemble the PC's prototype. This project was given the code name Project Chess.
After only a year, on August 12 1981, IBM introduced the IBM 5150 PC (Personal Computer). It was an instant commercial success for them, and a crucial step in computer's and modern world's evolution. The computer turned from pure geek playthings to indispensable tools of modern business and private life. IBM's success forced many companies to their knees and made them history. This year even Apple Computer followed IBM's lead and adopted Intel CPUs. Who could imagine today a life without a PC at the office or at home, without a PC at school or somewhere in a companie's business?
There's no much more to say about this, the facts and the today's lifestyle of most people all over the world speak for themselfs. Actually, there's something more to say than: Happy birthday IBM PC!
You may read more on IBM's PC debut reference room page:
