ABSTRACT
Mainframe computers became commercially available in 1952 and in the mid-1960s microprocessors were developed and incorporated in handheld calculators. Small packets of technology were, therefore, emerging in a moderately coupled network of industries over the 1950s and 1960s. Then in 1975, MICS produced the first microcomputer, the Altair, which was cheaper and more accessible to a wider market than mainframes. Micros had a different architecture to mainframes and calculators, and during the initial stage of market development competition in the micro sector had more to do with architectures than anything else. There were, and still are, two architectures. One is based on the Intel chip and the other on the Motorola processor. A number of operating systems were built around these chips: CP/M; the Apple system; IBM DOS; and systems for the Commodore, Tandy, Texas Instruments (TI), NCR, NEC, Olivetti, Wang and Xerox microcomputers. The early market niche for micros was thus crowded with architectures and operating systems when, in 1981, IBM entered the micro market. The entry of IBM immediately put the fastest growing operating system, CP/M, out of business. By the mid-1980s, IBM’s architecture was dominant and others adopted it in order to survive. At the same time, Apple introduced the Mac, which was not as cumbersome and difficult to learn as DOS. Later, Microsoft brought some simplicity to DOS but it is still not able to match the elegance and simplicity of the Mac. During this period, microprocessor technology was also developing: the earliest processors were 4 bits and were soon replaced by 8-and then 16-bit processors. By the mid-1990s, 32-bit technology was dominant.
