Introduction - Computer Busses - page 11

was available in 4 K and 8 K
editions. The Altair was an instant
success, and MITS begin work on
a Motorola 6800-based system.
Even its bus become a standard:
the S-100 bus.
At Xerox, work began on the
Alto II, which would be easier to
produce, more reliable, and more
easily maintained, whereas IBM
segmented their mainframe market
and moved down-market, with
their first briefcase-sized portable
computer: the IBM 5100. It cost $9000, used BASIC, had 16 KB RAM, tape storage, and a
built-in 5-inch screen. Also at IBM, after the rejection of the ServiceFree computer, John
Cocke began working on the 801 project, which would develop scaleable chip designs that
could be used in small computers, as well as large ones.
In 1976, the personal computer industry started to evolve around a few companies. For
software development two companies stood out:

Figure 1.5 Altair 8800

• Microsoft . The development of BASIC on the Altair allowed Microsoft to concentrate on

the development of software (while many other companies concentrated on the cutthroat
hardware market). Its core team of Paul Allen (ex-MITS) and Bill Gates (ex-Harvard) left
their job/study to devote their efforts, full-time, to Microsoft. They even employed their
first employee: Marc McDonald. The Microsoft trademark was also registered.

• Digital Research . Microsoft's biggest competitor for PC software was Digital Research

who had copyrighted CP/M, which it hoped would become the industry-standard micro-
computer operating system. Soon CP/M was licensed to GNAT Computers and IMSAI.
But for a bad business decision at Digital Research, CP/M would have become the stan-
dard operating system for the PC, and the world may never have heard about MS-DOS.

For personal computer systems, five computers were leading the way:

• Apple . Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs completed work on the Apple I computer, and on

April Fool's Day, 1976, the Apple Computer Company was formed. It was initially avail-
able in kit form and cost $666.66 (hopefully nothing to do with it being a beast to con-
struct). With the success of the Apple I computer, Steve Wozniak began working on the
Apple II, and he soon left Hewlett-Packard to devote more time to this development.
Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs proposed that Hewlett-Packard and Atari create a personal
computer. Both proposals were turned down.

• Commodore . Things were looking very good at Commodore, as Chuck Peddle designed

the Commodore PET. To ensure a good supply of the 6502, Commodore International
bought MOS Technology.

• Xerox . The innovation continued at great pace at Xerox with the Display Word Process-

ing Task Force recommending that Xerox produce an office information system, like the
Alto (the Janus project). On the negative side, Xerox management had always been
slightly suspicious about the change of business area, and rejected two proposals to mar-
ket the Alto computer as part of an advanced word processing system.