What is the history of the IBM PC?
Around 1978 and ’79, the market served by IBM’s Data Entry Systems division began to change. Instead of terminals and minicomputers or mainframes, customers began demanding autonomous, low cost, single-user computers with minimal compute power or connectivity, but compliance to standards like the ASCII alphabet and the BASIC programming language. The closest product in IBM’s line was the 5110, a closed, BASIC-in-ROM machine with a tiny built-in character display. The 5110 was uncompetitive, and IBM started losing bids from key customers, mostly government agencies. Data Entry commissioned a consulting firm (Boca Associates?) to design a stop-gap machine to fill what was perceived within IBM as a short-lived, specialized niche. It was intended that the stop-gap machine would only be offered for a couple of years until it would be replaced in “The Product Line” by an internal IBM design. Some IBM executives believed the single-user desktop system was a fad which would die out when the sh
