CONCLUSIONS - Inventing the PC - page 164

“portable APL computer,” a “total, stand-alone personal infor-
mation processing system,” 11 or, sporadically, a “personalized
computer”), the company was the first to promote commer-
cially a microprocessor-based computer designed specifically
for personal use. In 1973, in the marketing language of early
mechanical calculators, MCM promoted its computer as having
such “size, price, and ease-of-use as to bring personal computer
ownership to business, education, and scientific users.” 12 The
MCM /70's promotional literature and manuals talked about in-
dividual, private, or personal computing experience: “be your
own programmer,” “develop your own information processing
library,” “become more cost-effective,” “ensure full security of
confidential data,” and “enjoy portable hands-on information
processing.” 13
The general public was to gain access to computing through
personal ownership of affordable computers. According to Mi-
chael Day, who authored the MCM /70 Introductory Manual ,
It has been a combination of the complexity of the large
computer machines and the complexity of the special com-
puter languages, that has till now prevented the general
public from using computers themselves. But the simpli-
city of the MCM /70 and its associated computer language
(known as APL ) make personal computer use and owner-
ship a reality. 14
The MCM /70 was an archetypal personal computer. Micro-
processor-based and equipped with semiconductor memory,
it was intended for individual use and, possibly, ownership (in
1974, even the basic model of the MCM /70, with a price tag of
$3,500, was prohibitively expensive for an average individual).
Like laptops and desktops of today, it was a general-purpose
computer running under an operating system designed to pro-
vide an effortless interaction with the computer.