CONCLUSIONS - Inventing the PC - page 174

around ten MCM /700 systems per month. But in the end, no
distributor was able to swing a mega-sale that could make MCM
a feared contender in the small systems class and help it to be-
come another Apple Computer.
Why was the MCM/70 forgotten?
Although many MCM /70s were sold around the world between
1974 and 1976, the computer seemed to be consigned to obliv-
ion. Why was it forgotten? To answer this question, one has
to go back to 1974, the year that should have belonged to the
MCM /70 but didn't. Instead, prolonged corporate turmoil ef-
fectively closed the window of opportunity that would have al-
lowed MCM /70 to become a major force in reshaping the social
status of computing.
MCM 's media buzz of 1973 faded to total silence in early
1974. The company's cash flow problem put an end to adver-
tising and promotional tours. Participation in major computer
shows was cancelled as well, as were the MCM /70 field trials,
such as the one scheduled for 28 March to 5 April 1974 at the
Canadian government's Department of Supply and Services.
Throughout the year the company had no choice but to keep
a low profile. The power struggle that terminated with Kutt's
dismissal was too dangerous as a media topic for a company in
a fragile state and in need of some stability. In 1975, when the
worst seemed to be over, the company had nothing new to offer
to get its products back into the media spotlight. MCM could
only watch, helpless and baffled, as the giant IBM , with its
newly introduced IBM 5100 desktop APL computer, decisively
encroached on the very consumer market MCM had identified
for its own computers.
The MCM /70 wasn't retained in the APL movement's collective
memory for long either, although MCM was founded on APL