Just in case you didn't know: the personal computer celebrated an anniversary a couple of weeks ago. There wasn't a lot of fanfare, no ticker-tape parade, or world celebration. Odd, since this machine
has fundamentally changed the way the world operates. From corporations to consumers, the PC has helped drive bubbles and burst them. Twenty-five years ago, this strange box entered our lives, thanks
to a rogue team of engineers from International Business Machines, and changed the face of the world.
In light of this momentous occasion, I thought it might behoove us to take a look back,
if only to reflect on the how far we have come. And maybe, just maybe, give us a sense of where we are going.
In the beginning...
It was Aug. 12, 1981 when IBM launched the 5150, the
company's latest entry into the emerging "personal computer" market. What is now considered to be the granddaddy to the modern PC, this simple beige-colored box had a price tag of $1,565--in 2006
dollars about $4,164--an expensive proposition for most U.S. consumers. Today, of course, you can buy a desktop machine starting as low as $500 with almost 32,000 times more memory. The closest thing
to ripping music on the PC was the audio cassettes that were used to load and save data. Now, as the market grew, manufacturing costs dropped, capacity grew, demand rose and competitors entered the
market. The vanguard is still in the game--but the playing field today is crowded and competition is fierce. Good news for consumers, bad news for manufactures. What this evolution has done, of
course, is bring the PC into the homes, and hands, of millions of people around the world.
And then came the Internet...
The ability of any technology to transcend the confines of its present
state lies with the entrepreneurship of market pioneers. Advances and refinements on technology, from sheer necessity, have given way to technology advancements that have reformed societies and
industries alike--the printing press, the cotton gin, the automobile. I would argue that the Internet is to Digital Revolution what the steam engine was to the Industrial Revolution. The creation of a
more efficient distribution mechanism--both in cost and resources--has shown itself time and time again as the foundation to a market sea change.
Just stop and think about the impact that this
collection of inter-connected networks across the world that all use the TCP/IP protocols to communicate has done: created entirely new sectors of commerce; launched corporations and brands that exist
entirely online; transformed the communications industry, everything from mail to telecommunications; and, most important, think about the power that was unleashed when the IP was plugged into the PC
from the perspective of the consumer, enabling them to book travel, buy cars, obtain medical information, upload and download files of every kind--text, audio and video.
What is next? Where will
the PC take us? How will it transform the way we think? Create? Share? Tune in next week for Part Two to to find out. In the meantime, why don't you tell me what you think? What is the next logical
evolution in personal computing?