Newsmakers

Let's celebrate the 25th birthday of the personal computer and recognise the way in which it has changed the world, says CYBER BANTA

iT barely had the computing power of a calculator and it spawned the IT revolution, changed the way the world did business, the way in which people communicated, and even how they wrote or created art.

The personal computer (PC) is now 25 years old. When IBM introduced its “cheap” computer, the IBM 5150, it came in a boring beige box, cost a lot ($1,565) and gave a little, just 16 kilobits of memory and not even a floppy drive, just cassette tapes to store data. It was a lot different from the PC as we know it today—the sleek, powerful, colour-rich machine. The original monitor was a monochromatic green with a phosphorus screen.

STANDARDISATION
We must, however, remember that the IBM 5150 was not even the first PC. It was developed because the Apple II was very successful and IBM felt a threat from that. The IBM 5150, however, set the standard for the others to follow. It used off-the-shelf components from different manufacturers. It is because of this that the Intel central processing unit (CPU) was used for the machine. Along with Microsoft software, the Intel CPU was to be a long-standing relationship for the PC.

Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel had made a prediction in 1965 that the transistor density of semiconductor chips would double roughly every 18 months. This is called Moore's Law. It was correct in its predictions. This helped improve the hardware and keep the price of the new machines reasonable. Along with hardware improvements, Microsoft developed the Windows to replace the text-based interface of the Disk Operating System (DOS). Windows, as we all know, is a Graphic User Interface that the Apple Macintosh and Xerox had used earlier. It made the computer user-friendly.

What about the software? Initially, it was office productivity stuff. First came the spreadsheets, like VisiCalc and Lotus 123. Then came the Word and finally Office, which incorporated all that a computer office would need. Computers have come a long way, and with e-mail, they have become inexpensive, both in offices and at home.

WINDOWS AND GATES
The richest man in the world, Microsoft's founder Bill Gates, who was 25 when he worked on making the operating system for the IBM PC, has been the man who made the IBM into what it is today, the de-facto standard for personal computers.

Most of the computers in the world use his operating systems, no matter who makes them—Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Acer, Lenovo, or Toshiba. Most are based on the basic model that IBM introduced, though now IBM itself does not make personal computers; it sold its PC business to a Chinese firm, Lenovo in 2005, and as we have seen, Lenovo comes fairly low in the pecking order of the PC manufacturers.

What the IBM PC did was bring the computer on the desktop of its users, both in offices and at home. Earlier, computers were either mainframe, which were housed in big buildings designed for them. They had as many engineers looking after them. A minicomputer those days was just the size of two big refrigerators!

Because anyone could improve the hardware and design applications that ran on the basic operating system, the IBM computer evolved quickly as people found new ways to use it and programmers developed new programs to cater to these needs. There are over a billion PCs in the world today, and they are used for applications as varied as gaming, listening to and composing music.

THE PC REVOLUTION
The PC created a new revolution in personal printing, as well as professional printing by streaming the pre-printing processes. It has become the tool that helps artists and graphic designers create what they want with minimum effort. It helps children learn from interactive multimedia programs and books. It reads out text to the visually impaired. It helps families communicate through the Internet, now it allows people to phone each other and save on the long distance bills.

Over a billion people use the Internet worldwide, and the number is growing exponentially. The computer has also evolved as a communication tool. In the 1990, the Internet revolution started and the PC was used by millions of people to explore and contribute to the wonderful world of the World Wide Web.

What was a tool became fun, and eventually impacted society by becoming a social tool that transformed economies with new jobs and outsourcing, as well as the wary relationships were defined. Classmates.com, was probably the first social networking website when it began in 1995. MySpace.com is the leader in this field now. In an Indian context, who can dispute the way in which Shaadi.com has used the power of the PC and the Internet to change the way in which the traditional search for arranged marriages?

Websites like SantaBanta.com provide a community service by discussing wide-ranging issues on the forum, providing pictures to use as wallpapers and giving a wide variety of reading material to inform the public.

Today a PC is not just a work tool—it has taken a central place in the lives of its users. What was a desktop PC is now being replaced by laptops. Many of the functions of the PC, including e-mail, word-processing, spreadsheets and games, are also available in small but powerful hand-held computers. The strength of the PC has been its ability to evolve and this is the reason why the revolution started 25 years ago will continue to benefit its users.