Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology

computer industry 107ket a variety of expansion cards to increase the machine’scapabilities. By 1990, about 10 million PCs worth about $80billion were being sold annually (see ibm pc).Although IBM tried to prevent other manufacturers from“cloning” the IBM chipset itself, it was unable to preventcompanies such as Compaq from creating “IBM compatible”PCs that often surpassed the capabilities of the IBM models.(IBM introduced its microchannel architecture in thelate 1980s in an unsuccessful attempt to regain proprietaryadvantage.) By the 1990s the IBM-compatible PCs (sometimescalled “Wintel,” for the Microsoft Windows operatingsystem and Intel-compatible processor) had becomean industry standard and a commodity manufactured andmarketed by everything from the big name brands suchas Dell and Gateway down to the corner computer store’sbackroom operation.The announcement of Apple’s Macintosh computer in1984 made a vivid impression on the public (see Macintosh).With its fully graphical user interface, mouse, drawingprogram, and fonts, it seemed light-years ahead of thetext-based IBM PCs. However, the Mac’s slow speed, relativelyhigh price, and closed architecture limited its penetrationinto the business market. The Mac did attract anenthusiastic minority of consumer users and achieved alasting niche presence in education and among graphicsand video professionals. Gradually, as Microsoft’s graphicalWindows operating system improved in the early 1990s,the Mac’s advantages over the IBM-compatible machinesdiminished.During the 1990s, desktop computers came with aseries of increasingly powerful series of Pentium processors,matched by offerings from AMD and Cyrix. Multimedia(including high-end graphics and sound capabilities)became a standard feature, particularly on consumer PCs.Increasingly, the business PC was being connected to alocal area network, and both business and consumer PCsincluded modems or broadband access to online servicesand the Internet. The need to manage network files and services(such as Web servers) led to the development of serverPCs featuring high-capacity mass storage. At the same time,high-end PCs also challenged the graphics workstationsmade by companies such as Sun. The traditional minicomputerand high performance workstation category beganto melt away. By 2002, an estimated 600 million personalcomputers were in use worldwide, with about half of themin homes.The personal computer also grew smaller. The suitcasesized“luggable” computers of the 1980s gave way to a rangeof laptop, notebook-sized, and palm-sized computers. Todaywireless networking technology allows users of diminutivemachines to access the full resources of the World WideWeb and local networks.The idea of “appliance computing” has also been arecurrent theme among industry pundits. Proponents arguethat there are still many people who feel intimidated by astandard computer interface but have become comfortablewith other consumer electronic products such as televisions,CD players, or microwaves. If computer functionscould be built into such devices, people might use themcomfortably. For example, WebTV is a box that allows theuser to surf the Web from the same armchair where he orshe watches TV, using controls little more complicated thanthose found on a regular TV remote. Kitchen appliancesmight be transformed, with the microwave providing recipesand the refrigerator keeping an inventory and automaticallyordering from the grocery store. However, as with thefully automated “wired home,” featured in Sunday newspapersupplements, the appliance computer has remaineddifficult to market to consumers (see smart buildings andhomes).The Software IndustryHardware is useless without software. Since the operatingsystem (OS) is the software that enables all other softwareto access the computer, the OS market is a key part of thecomputer industry. Through a historical accident, a youngprogrammer-entrepreneur named Bill (William) Gatesand his Microsoft Corporation received the contract todevelop the operating system for the first IBM PC. Microsoftbought and adapted an existing operating system tocreate MS-DOS (also called PC-DOS). Until the end of the1980s, DOS was the dominant operating system for IBMcompatiblePCs (see ms-dos). In the early 1990s, Microsoftintroduced Windows 3.0, the first successful version of itsgraphical operating environment (see Microsoft Windows).The dominance of Windows became so completethat a federal antitrust case against Microsoft resulted inthe company having to provide competitors greater accessto the operating system.The source of emerging challenges to Windows comesnot from another desktop vendor but from the Internet,where Java offers the potential of delivering applicationsthrough the user’s Web browser, regardless of whether thatuser is running Windows, the Macintosh OS, or Linux, avariant of UNIX that has been embraced by many enthusiasts.However, Java applications and Linux still representonly a tiny fraction of the market share held by Windows(see Java and Linux).The 1990s saw considerable consolidation in the officesoftware arena. Microsoft’s Office software suite overwhelmedonce formidable competitors such as WordPerfectand Corel. Packages such as Microsoft Office create theirown mini-industries where developers create templates andadd-ins. However, the widespread use of high-speed Internetaccess (see broadband) has made it practicable to offermany office software functions online, providing workerswith convenient access from any location. The most significantoffering here has been Google Apps, which includescalendar and communications features as well as GoogleDocs & Spreadsheets. In turn, Microsoft has been promptedto offer added-value online features to Microsoft Office.Outside the office there is considerably more competitionin the software industry. Today’s consumers can choosefrom a wide variety of software that fills utility or other nicheneeds, including shareware (“try before you buy”) offerings.In educational software and games some once-major innovatorshave been bought out or consolidated, but there is noone dominant company. Thousands of specialized software