IBM: 20 Years of the IBM Personal Computer

"Twenty years ago this summer, the IBM PC was introduced to the world. It was an event that launched a revolution and changed the way people did business. The industry definition of a personal computer at the time was: any machine inexpensive enough for one person to own and use, whether at home or work. While the personal computer started as a device for the computer hobbyist, its major market has turned out to be small business users and professionals.

The "information revolution" that futurists had long predicted arrived with the IBM PC, bringing with it dramatic changes in how people lived and worked, perhaps even how they thought. The world would never be the same.

Since then, personal computers have grown faster and more powerful while becoming less expensive. One computer expert illustrates the rapid advancement of personal computing by estimating that if the automobile business had developed like the computer business, a Rolls-Royce would now cost $2.75 and run three million miles on a gallon of gas."

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