IBM PC turns 30

30 years ago, on August 12, 1981, the IBM PC was introduced - the first version and founder of the IBM PC-compatible computers platform.

One of the IBM PC engineers, Mark Dean, now one of the senior executives at IBM, said recently that he was proud to be involved in its development. But he also said he was proud that IBM decided to leave the personal computer business in 2005 by selling Lenovo's PC division.

According to Dean, although PCs are still common devices, they are no longer at the forefront of the computer industry. Soon they will join electronic tubes, typewriters, vinyl records, EBLs and incandescent lamps.

Although his main device is now a tablet, he himself believes that the center of the computer sphere is not even smartphones or tablets, but social spaces between devices in which people and ideas meet and interact.

At the same time, Frank Shaw, vice president of Microsoft Corporate Communications, is somewhat more optimistic. He does not believe that the PC era is over, at least because the number of PC deliveries this year is 400 million.

However, the show notes that Microsoft some time ago began to go beyond the PC. He points to company software running on Xbox, phones, embedded devices such as ATMs, and services such as Bing, Office 365, and Xbox Live.

Windows 8 will be one of the most risky and most important Windows releases for Microsoft. But still, this is primarily an operating system for a PC, and Microsoft still receives most of its revenue and profits from PC software - Windows and Office. Thus, while IBM has gone further, the PC era is still alive and well in Redmond.

via Business Insider , A Smarter Planet Blog , The Official Microsoft Blog