Mr. IBM PC Dies at 72

News, discussion and questions about technology and computers, whether broadcast-related or not.

Mr. IBM PC Dies at 72

Postby jon » Wed Oct 30, 2013 8:47 am

29 October 2013 Last updated at 07:57 ET
IBM PC pioneer William C Lowe dies, aged 72
By Matthew Wall Technology reporter, BBC News

William C Lowe, who supervised the birth of IBM's first personal computer, has died aged 72 in Lake Forest, Illinois.

The IBM Personal Computer, known as the 5150, was launched in August 1981, several years after Apple had brought its first computer to market.

Mr Lowe was instrumental in driving IBM's PC project from conception to manufacture within the space of a year.

Until then, IBM had been primarily known for large, mainframe computers.

Aware that IBM needed to play catch-up in the nascent PC market, Mr Lowe bypassed the company's rather cumbersome proprietary development process and brought in components from outside to speed things up.

The operating system, MS-DOS 1.0, was provided by a little-known technology company called Microsoft, while the 8088 microprocessor came from Intel.

It cost $1,565 - about $4,000 (£2,500) in today's money - without a monitor and was IBM's first foray into the consumer market.

Off-the-shelf

Mr Lowe studied physics at Lafayette College, Pennsylvania, and joined IBM in 1962 as a product test engineer.

In 1975, he became director of development and manufacturing operations for the company's General Systems Division.

Three years later, as laboratory director of the division's Boca Raton site in Florida, he hatched the idea of IBM selling an own-branded computer targeted at small businesses and consumers.

Mr Lowe originally suggested using Atari to help IBM gain quick entry to the market, but this idea was rejected.

Instead, management gave the go-ahead for him to develop a prototype made from off-the-shelf components.

He assembled a team of 12 engineers to work on the Acorn Project (not to be confused with the UK's Acorn Computers) under the direction of Don Estridge.

Part of the testing involved the computer's ability to run the Pac-Man game.

"We didn't just design a computer; we created an industry," said Patty McHugh, Acorn project team member responsible for designing the PC's motherboard.

The rest, as they say, is history.

More than 250,000 IBM PCs were sold in the first year after its launch.

As a reward for his efforts, Bill Lowe was promoted to vice president of the Information Systems Division and general manager of IBM's facility in Rochester, Minnesota.

'Scamp'

But the IBM PC was not, technically, the very first personal computer the company made.

In 1973, IBM's General Systems Division produced a prototype called "Special computer, APL machine portable" (Scamp), also made from off-the-shelf materials and components.

Scamp could be used as a desktop calculator and interactive programming device and led to the development of the IBM 5100 two years later.

But the IBM PC was the first machine designed specifically for the mass market.

Collaboration

The IBM PC project had highlighted the benefits of collaboration, and in 1985, IBM and Microsoft agreed to develop software together that could also run on other machines.

But while Mr Lowe believed in the "open architecture" concept, it opened the back door to rival manufacturers who could build IBM-compatible machines more cheaply.

It seemed to some that the approach had backfired, as IBM faced increasingly tough competition in the PC and software markets.

Mr Lowe took a lot of the blame and this may have contributed to his decision to leave IBM in 1988 to join Xerox, the photocopier specialist, then looking to expand into other product areas.

In 1991, he became president of corporate jet maker, Gulfstream.

Mr Lowe died on 19 October 2013 from a heart attack.
User avatar
jon
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 9256
Joined: Mon May 08, 2006 10:15 am
Location: Edmonton

Re: Mr. IBM PC Dies at 72

Postby jon » Wed Oct 30, 2013 8:52 am

One of the best stories from Bill Lowe is from early on in the IBM PC project when he first asked how much he would have to price an empty box manufactured by IBM, and was told $1200.

Needless to say, he realized then that part of this project would be to reinvent the IBM manufacturing process, at least for his product line.
User avatar
jon
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 9256
Joined: Mon May 08, 2006 10:15 am
Location: Edmonton

Re: Mr. IBM PC Dies at 72

Postby PMC » Wed Oct 30, 2013 12:14 pm

Back then, IBM management never understood the concept that hardware prices can come down for the consumer, in mass manufacturing, other companies did.

Older people can remember a command line prompt. The last cell phone generation is an example of those that have no idea of what that is etc.

The younger population today should understand that technology has created many great things for society, and the knowledge of how it actually works is a definite need, because if 99% of the population doesn't understand, that says 1% are controlling the process. The latest technology using devices like the Raspberry Pi, can now contribute to expand the knowledge.
PMC
 

Re: Mr. IBM PC Dies at 72

Postby Neumann Sennheiser » Wed Oct 30, 2013 12:30 pm

PMC wrote:....because if 99% of the population doesn't understand, that says 1% are controlling the process.


Well said sir!
"You don't know man! I was in radio man! I've seen things you wouldn't believe!"
User avatar
Neumann Sennheiser
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 1128
Joined: Sat Jun 24, 2006 10:43 pm
Location: Port Ludlow, Washington, USA


Return to Computer & Technology News

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 96 guests