Happy 25th Birthday IBM PC
In keeping with Propellerhead’s habit of just missing important anniversaries and birthdays a belated many happy returns to the PC. The first IBM PC, model number 5150, went on sale 25 years ago on Saturday. Desktop computers had been around for several years prior to August 1981 but what made this one different, and the reason you’re probably reading this on a Windows PCs, was the groundbreaking decision by IBM to use an ‘open architecture, which basically meant anyone could build them, and a cheap and cheerful operating system, called MSDOS, devised by one William Gates, and the rest, as they say, is history.
For the record that first machine used an Intel 8088 processor running at the then breakneck speed of 4.7Mhz with a whopping 16kb of RAM. The operating system and software stored on two 5.25 floppy drives and the whole kit and caboodle was connected to a monochrome (green on black) monitor. If you wanted one back then it would have set you back over $1500, which is around $4600 or £2500 in today’s money.
