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IBM PC 25th

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Erik

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For those that might be interested, Saturday 8/12/06 marks the 25th anniversary of the introduction of the IBM PC.

Check out Bruce Damer's Digibarn tribute to this event at:

http://www.digibarn.com/stories/ibm-pc-25/index.html

Include in that page is a video I prepared. Critiques are welcome. (The version on Bruce's site is a bit out of date and will likely be updated soon.)
 
OK, now for a slightly confused critic-comment-thing: What the heck was up w/ the MIDI Classical!? As ironic as it may seem, I listen to classical (over Internet radio), &, IMHO, I think actual classical would probably sound better...

(Hey, who removed my previous, utterly pointless & illogic comment!? :p)
 
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Well, the "Switched on Bach" album was released in 1981 just about when IBM introduced their machine. I thought the connection was good enough for a match. ;)
 
Luke said:
On 8/12/1981 first PC was built or first PC's were shipped?
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On this date in 1981 IBM formally introduced the IBM PC to the world. Shipments of prototypes and early production systems had already been made to aftermarket suppliers and production machines were already filling the pipeline, although early deliveries were slow.

Still, IBM did put probably 10,000 systems into customers hands by the end of the year.
 
Man, that seems slow* by today's standards!:p

So...man 25 years ago today has IBM set the standard that we still go by to this day...that is teh 1337!

*Slow as in the rate of units sold
 
How big was the demand for an IBM PC at its launch? I.e. was 10,000 systems delivered by the end of the year just the icing on the cake, or quite well matching the demand?
 
carlsson said:
How big was the demand for an IBM PC at its launch? I.e. was 10,000 systems delivered by the end of the year just the icing on the cake, or quite well matching the demand?
Click to expand...

IBM couldn't come close to meeting demand for at least a year after launch. I remember waiting 3+ months for my PC (ordered in September, delivered on new years day) and hearing stories of people waiting even longer for orders large and small. IBM didn't even start selling internationally until 1983 in part because they couldn't meet US demand.
 
Read some history people ... look up '(Philip) Don Estridge'.

IBM didn't expect to come in and crush the market. The PC was almost all outsourced parts. The CPU came from Intel, the OS and languages from MS. IBM had very little skin in the game because most of IBM was focused on mainframes and did not think that PCs were a viable market. If the PC failed, there would be very little IBM owned assets to worry about disposing of.

Hence the slow rampup. The success of the PC suprised even IBM.
 
Ah yes, I remember a bit of a hype when IBM PC would finally come this way. It gives us abroad two more years before we can celebrate IBM PC 25 years. :)
 
I believe the 5150 was not officially available in the UK until 1983 when IBM started production in Greenock, Scotland.

My 5150 and XT both have stickers on the back to indicate they where made there. The only two early 16-54kB 5150's I have seen here both have stickers from New York. Early IBM's made in New York where available in Europe, but VERY expensive due to import duties and taxes.

Interestingly, the sticker on the back of my second dead XT (1985) is a 5150 New York one! No idea why.
 
I have here the August 1981 issue of 80 MICROCOMPUTING.

There's a little blurb about rumours that IBM would be releasing a micro soon, but no substantial information other than that Tandy/Radio Shack was coming out with a 3270 compatibility kit soon, in the apparent hopes of heading off IBM's foray into the microcomputer market.

So either it's bad journalism, the issue/article was prepared too far in advance, or IBM didn't really hype the thing up so much.
 
dreddnott said:
I have here the August 1981 issue of 80 MICROCOMPUTING.

There's a little blurb about rumours that IBM would be releasing a micro soon, but no substantial information other than that Tandy/Radio Shack was coming out with a 3270 compatibility kit soon, in the apparent hopes of heading off IBM's foray into the microcomputer market.

So either it's bad journalism, the issue/article was prepared too far in advance, or IBM didn't really hype the thing up so much.
Click to expand...

Magazine lead times being what they are the August issue of just about any publication is written in April/May at the earliest. Sometimes they can sneak a few pages into the thing before it hits the presses but it's still going to be news from June or so at the latest.

Byte put the "new" PC on it's January 1982 cover. Microcomputing "beat" them by one month and put it in the December issue. Creative Computing scooped them both with a November publication date - still at least three months after the actual debut.
 
carlsson said:
Ah yes, I remember a bit of a hype when IBM PC would finally come this way. It gives us abroad two more years before we can celebrate IBM PC 25 years. :)
Click to expand...
But apparently some computer resellers can't wait. Here are this week's commercial offers from a computer chain (owned by Dixons for those who recognize the layout). Only the first page of this quite big document is of related interest:

http://www.pccity.se/documents/DRv38_8sid.pdf

They claim 43,000 SEK in 1981 corresponds to 91,000 SEK today and "make fun" about how much faster, cheaper and better a new PC is today.:? Since they present it like an offer, if I had 91,000 SEK (US$12,500) to throw away, I would go there trying to buy an IBM 5150 and see if they could fix me up with one. Certainly it shouldn't take more than two-three days for them to get one from the central warehouse, right? :p
 
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