How IBM Changed the Printing World
The company IBM, also known as International Business Machines has a long history in computer technology. It merged the use of the printer with the computer. IBM sells software for computers, as well as hardware and it manufactures these components. Yet, the corporation tends to concentrate on the software development. According to Wikipedia, IBM is one of the oldest companies in the industry of information technology originating from the 19th century.
IBM is credited as being the company that started the home computer industry. When the company began selling the IBM 5150 personal computer on August 12th in the year 1981, almost everyone wanted to own one. Then, the new personal computer or pc used the MS-DOS or Microsoft disk operating system software to run programs. This helped establish Microsoft in the computer software industry.
Although the price was affordable in comparison to mainframe computers, it was still not within most consumers’ budgets. Therefore, some bought other competitor brands that were less costly. Some companies had taken note of IBM’s method of constructing computers and began making their own versions. Compaq computer was one competitor brand that customers purchased.
Because IBM had shared the simplicity of the construction of its new personal computer, other companies began cloning the construction process. Still, many of these companies could not offer complete compatibility with IBM’s products. They could copy all elements of computer construction except for the main component which was the pc’s BIOS. The purpose of the BIOS was controlling the computer’s functions that were low-level.
Many of the copy-cat producers of computers tried to compensate and their BIOS was engineered in reverse. As a result, partial compatibility of software occurred. Many of these altered software systems were labeled with their compatibility percent and sold to customers.