The Evolution Of The Pc And Microsoft

The Evolution of the PC and Microsoft

Xerox, Apple, IBM, and Compaq all played major roles in the development

of the Personal Computer, or ³PC,² and the success of Microsoft. Though it may

seem so, the computer industry did not just pop-up overnight. It took many

years of dedication, hard-work, and most importantly, thievery to turn the

personal computer from a machine the size of a Buick, used only by zit-faced ³

nerds,² to the very machine I am typing this report on.

Xerox started everything off by creating the first personal computer,

the ALTO, in 1973. However, Xerox did not release the computer because they did

not think that was the direction the industry was going. This was the first of

many mistakes Xerox would make in the next two decades. So, in 1975, Ed Roberts

built the Altair 80800, which is largely regarded as the first PC. However, the

Altair really served no real purpose. This left computer-lovers still yearning

for the ³perfect² PC...actually, it didn¹t have to be perfect, most ³nerds² just

wanted their computer to do SOMETHING.

The burning need for a PC was met in 1977, when Apple, a company formed

by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, released it¹s Apple II. Now the nerds were

satisfied, but that wasn¹t enough. In order to catapult the PC in to a big-time

product, Apple needed to make it marketable to the average Joe. This was made

possible by Vi...