IBM introduced the very first Personal Computer-or “PC” on this date in 1981.
Main frame computers were already prevalent, used by business and government for years. In this stage of infancy, though, mistakes were rampant-and mistrust about computers was the norm, leading to maxims like:
“To err is human, but to really $#%& things up requires a computer!”
So, we fast-forward 28 years-and the feeble IBM PC (that at the time was state-of-the-art) now has less computing firepower than your digital wristwatch-a lot less. We are downloading entire movies, carrying around cell phones that are internet-capable computers—with features not even dreamed of back in 1981.
As the technology has changed, so too have our attitudes towards the reliability of computers. Now, it’s more likely we will collectively trust the output on ANY computer over the word of ANY human. We are much more likely to have made the mistake-the computer will likely be dead-on.
Is this progress?
I guess so, but it was always convenient to be able to blame a machine-even if the error was human input into that machine.
I wasn’t able to find an IBM TV ad from 1981, but I did dig up one from the Commodore 64, which was the market leader! What happened to them is the stuff of business legend-infamy, really, but it is entertaining to see from the commercial:
a) how little firepower these boxes had and
b) how EXPENSIVE they were!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okHAmAxztNk
If you’d like my blog delivered daily on YOUR PC (or MAC), just let me know: tim.moore@citcomm.com
Have a great weekend!
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