As I stepped from my car into the South Florida swelter, a wave of apprehension swept over me. Betsy had worked hard to get early delivery on an evaluation unit. She was politely, but firmly, refused. I had arranged to work in the Baltimore office on their machine. Those plans were politely, but firmly, cancelled. We shared our frustration: didn't these people understand the very small computer market, and didn't they want the world to know about theirs? Now I stood in front of the Entry Systems Business Division (ESB) of the Information Systems Division (ISD) of International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) in Boca Raton, Florida, home of the IBM Personal Computer. I wondered if my time inside would prove as difficult as the negotiations that led me here.
As I entered the contemporary but unremarkable building, a wave of comforting cool air swept over me. It was but the first of many pleasant experiences I would have in the next two days. I politely, but firmly, announced myself.
I was met by Jeannette Maher from the Public Relations department, with whom I had arranged my visit. She escorted me into an area that looked like IBM's conception of the ideal retail environment in which to market their new Personal Computer. We walked through a tastefully decorated lobby area and through smoked glass doors set into a wall of smoked glass. Inside we passed IBM's show display wall, and there they were. Three IBM Personal Computers sat on three modular display stations specifically designed for that purpose. A little voice inside me screamed "Be OBJECTIVE!" and I started to drool.
Inside this quiet room I was looking at what, to me, represents a revolution in small computers. IBM is entering a market that is just passing out of adolescence, but is well-established. This is both a disadvantage and an advantage for them. The problem is that they have built a machine which is vastly different and for which very little support can be found in the general market. The advantage, of course, is that they have the experience of others from which to learn and can "do it right." I think they have done it exactly right, some disappointment notwithstanding. And to have done it right means that IBM has overcome the burden of their tradition while using that tradition to their best advantage. IBM considers this a breakthrough because they are marketing the system through external channels, because they have depended on outside sources for software, and because of the new ways in which they will support their software.
Why is this a revolution? The IBM Personal Computer is the first in the second generation of small systems. It uses the Intel 8088 CPU, a 16- bit, single chip processor which, besides being intrinsically more powerful than the common 8-bit machines, allows the incorporation of up to one million bytes of main memory. IBM designed for the entire address space and announced expansion to and support for up to 256,000 bytes of main memory. The design of the Personal Computer allows it to span the entire market for small computers from the home consumer through the small business to the large, so-called "Fortune 1000" companies. No other small system offers this breadth of market satisfaction as well as an extraordinary combination of price, performance, feature, and function.
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