CONCLUSIONS - Inventing the PC - page 163

Valiant Personal Calculator. (Source: York University Computer
Museum, image by Z. Stachniak.)
fordable computing to the public. The MCM /70's role was to
bridge the simplicity of pocket calculators' use and the compu-
tational power of large digital electronic computers. According
to MCM , its computer was
the first complete stand-alone micro computer to provide
full scale information processing capability - with the
power of a large-scale computer and the ease of a pro-
grammable calculator. Right at your own desk … or any-
where else it may be needed. At a price you can afford. 9
The key to the MCM /70's operational simplicity was the use of
the APL language and of the AVS / EASY operating system. A
few simple programming examples included in the MCM /70's
manuals were to convince a user of the simplicity of APL 's pro-
gramming. “You have now programmed a computer! Simple,
wasn't it?” 10 But APL wasn't really simple, and MCM never ad-
mitted that tying its fortunes to APL exclusively was one of the
main reasons why the company failed to secure a sizable market
share throughout its corporate history.
Although MCM had never explicitly used the term “personal
computer” in relation to the MCM /70 (it preferred to call it a