1. Augmenting Human Intellect Part 1: 1975-1985
By: David French and Walker Wilson

2. Overview Different companies helped invent different components of PC
DEC, IBM, WANG, Xerox
Companies either did not realize what they had or failed to put it all together
Legacy’s will be that of great innovators but who failed to capitalize

3. DEC Intel introduced 8080 microprocessor chip
Contained all the essentials of a minicomputer on one chip
Company began designing VAX or Virtual Address eXtension as answer to chip

4. VAX Basically a PDP-11 with a 32 bit address space instead of 16 bit
Big breakthrough with VAX was virtual memory
Way of making small, fast, main memory seem bigger than it really is
VAX provided 4.3 gigabytes of virtual address space
MIPS (Million Instructions Per Second) came about because of VAX; industry benchmark into the 1990’s
VAX outsold later minicomputers and helped keep DEC profitable

5. Where it all went wrong
DEC saw themselves as architecture company rather than computer builder
To work with Intel, company would have to give up architecture
“Giving away the company jewels”
Also believed that it was not possible to achieve drastic price reduction because of high fixed overhead
These beliefs kept DEC out of PC business during critical years ( )

6. IBM IBM was busy extending its line of mainframes during this time
IBM did have a sense of where industry was headed
Introduced Series 4300 mainframes in 1979
Contained integrated circuits that improved performance
However, chips did not resemble ones produced by Intel and Fairchild
Also introduced Model 5100 in 1975
“Personal Computer”
Could fit on desk, contained processor, keyboard, cassette drive and video terminal
However, not applications existed and 3rd party supported failed to materialize

7. IBM vs. U.S. IBM spent from 1969 to 1981 fighting anti-trust lawsuit
IBM was charged with violating anti-trust laws by Justice Department
The market was defined as those business activities supported by main-frame computers
IBM held 70% of this market and the BUNCH held the rest
IBM said that it faced competition from 1000’s of companies that made and sold computers

8. What both sides missed
No companies that made mini’s were brought into testify
Bill Gates and Ed Roberts never testified
Both sides spent enormous amounts of money on legal teams only to completely miss the revolution happening in the industry
Movement towards microprocessor based, networked desktop computing
“It is unlikely that any major new venture into the general purpose computing industry can be expected”
Lawsuit was dismissed in 1981; shortly their after IBM began suffering losses and laying off employees

9. OLTP (On-Line Transaction Processing)
Time-Sharing began during this time
Way of linking computers together so that they could all be accessed through one terminal
Systems were based on SAGE and SABRE systems
Companies began producing terminals to serve growing market
Terminals were tailored for specific applications

10. What it meant for IBM
Mainframe, batch model of computing was giving way to interactive, decentralized processing
IBM tried to develop everything in house where competitors worked with each other
DEC VT-100 terminal used ASCII; IDM 3270 terminal used EBCDIC
IBM developed Systems Network Architecture; different from SAGE and SABRE
IBM began using industry standards in its first PC but too little too late

11. WANG
Line was being blurred between smart terminals and standalone PC’s
Wang directed company towards “Office Automation” which was word processing difficult at this time
People were terrified of deleting days work on accident; Jimmy Carter
Wang figured out how to make this impossible; also used Cathode Ray Tubes in design that displayed page of text instead of few lines
“User-friendly”

12. WANG
Shift from large, bulky and complicated machines to smaller, sleek, and simple machines
Time-sharing eliminated waiting lines but still had to wait for mainframe to get around to each job
Wang put processing power into terminal and used mainframe for data storage and retrieval
WPS (Wang Word Processing System) introduced in June 1976
Company moved from 45th in data processing revenue to 2nd
Wang thought he was selling office automation; was really selling general purpose computing machine

13. Xerox
Government began cutting off funds for research that did not have specific military application
Many researchers felt at risk because they were entirely government funded
Around this time, Xerox was setting up PARC  Palo Alto Research Center
Attracted many of the top researchers from around the country
Goal of facility was to anticipate the profound changes that technology would bring to the handling of information in the business world

14. Xerox
Douglas Engelbart not part of PARC but his team developed mouse and many of his team joined PARC
Engelbart presented mouse at Augmented Knowledge Workshop in SF; featured interactive computer programs controlled by mouse projected from PARC
Seen as great milestone in computing history
PARC refined mouse and integrated it with visual displays and iconic symbols (GUI)
Also developed Ethernet and what is arguably the first true PC (Alto)

15. Importance of PARC
Forced parameters of cost and marketing onto products
Many inventions at PARC were taken by other companies and commercialized
Apple with GUI
HP with laser printer
3-Com with Ethernet
Ethernet helped circumvent Grosch’s Law
However, looked too far ahead

16. The beginning of the PC TRS-80 by Radio Shack PET by Commodore
Apple II
The combination of flexibility and friendliness
Wazniak- transition from 8 inch to 5 1/4 inch
VisiCalc

17. Big Blue IBM PC (1981) Intel 8088 PC-DOS 1-2-3 from Lotus Development
Differences with CP/M
Similarities
1-2-3 from Lotus Development

18. 1984 Averted Macintosh (1984) Began in 1979 with Jeff Raskin
Inclusion of new XEROX-PARC technology and ideas
Focus upon new revolutionary ideas
31/2 inch disk drive, mouse, paint program and word processor
Option for laser printer in 1985
Nevertheless failed as major inclusion into PC market
Because….

19. How one advertised such things
Apple II
IBM-PC
Macintosh

20. In Conclusion: Star Wars
List of Great Sci Fi Movies between
Blade Runner
Terminator
The Thing
All 3 Star Wars
Aliens
Brazil
Why?

21. Bibliography
Ceruzzi, Paul E. “A History of Modern Computing.” Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1998, 2003
PodCast4U. “The Internet-Behind the Web-Modern Marvels-History Channel Documentary.” Youtube, May 2, 2013
“TYMNET.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation Inc.
“Virtual Memory.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation Inc.
Butterscotchcom. “What is Virtual Memory.” Youtube, Jan 18, 2010