The personal computer, better known as the PC, is a tool that has revolutionalized the way business’ and individuals interact, communicate, and live their everyday lives. It allows people to write and hold instant conversations over hundreds of miles of separation. The PC has allowed people to get data, order products, and download files from the comfort of one’s own home with the ease of a single mouse click. However, computers have not always been this way. The PC traces it’s origins back to the mainframes and minicomputers in the 1950’s and 1960’s, but it wasn’t until the 1970’s that there were breakthrough developments in the development of the PC.

It was on December 23, 1947, that John Bardee at Bell Laboratories developed the transistor. However, it wasn’t released to the United States market until 1956 and this is the point the revolution took place because it allowed the computer manufacturers to make smaller computers due to the smaller size of the transistor over the size of the bulky vacuum tubes that were previously used. This triggered the release of many new computer systems including the IBM 701, which was the first computer that was small enough t

Now the PC had validated itself and it became much more popular in small businesses as it was used to produce work schedules and payrolls, write letters and memos, and generate budgets. The term “paperless office” was introduced. This brought the development of Wordstar, Lotus 1-2-3, Microsoft Word, and Word Perfect. In 1982, Compaq created the first computer that was IBM compatible and this led to a breakthrough in computer manufacturing which allowed IBM to sell patent rights and let manufacturer’s create competition within themselves as IBM just sat back and accumulated revenue of the sales from it’s computer cloning rights.

These new developments in the computer world left businesses and students buzzing with excitement. Those that were able to get their hands on one and use it were viewed as very privileged. Every time a new computer accomplishment was made, it left people in awe. Still, up till 1972, computers were only available to schools, businesses, and wealthy people who could afford them. It was in 1972 when Intel came out with the 8008 chip and it was able to process 8-bits of data, which was enough to convey numbers and and letters of the alphabet. Then in 1977, competition started in the computer world as the Zilog Z-80 processor was developed. It allowed computers to operate with 16K bytes of RAM and 16K bits of ROM. Competing companies in the PC world a

Some topics in this essay:
Bell Laboratories, Microprocessors CP/M, Word Perfect, Personal Computer, IBM PC, IBM PC-DOS, PC Inel, Zilog Z-80, ROM Competing, PC December, ibm pc, computer world, computer systems, floppy disk, disk drive, floppy disk drive, personal computer, allowed people,