A brief history of the computer

Microsoft isn’t the only company that can trace its history to the mid-1970s, though. At the start of 1975 there were two microcomputer manufacturers in the US, but by the end of the year this had risen to 27, accompanied by a burgeoning industry of software providers and expansion board manufacturers, two magazines, two computer stores and several computing clubs and groups. 1975 saw the first integrated microcomputer; the Sphere, which contained the processor, keyboard and display in a single case and which also had an optional floppy drive.

The following year saw the appearance of more and more companies and pioneering products – among them Apple’s first effort; the hand-built Apple I. Founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, Apple was incorporated in 1977, but by then Wayne had already sold his share to Jobs and Wozniak for just $800 (equivalent to less than £3,000 today). In retrospect this doesn’t seem to have been the wisest decision: today Apple is among the world’s largest companies, with assets of more than $75 billion, and profits in 2010 alone of $14 billion.

The explosion in companies and products would continue over the next few years into the 1980s, with new companies springing up and existing electronics companies such as Commodore switching to computer production. Commodore’s PET of 1977, with its integrated keyboard, ‘Datasette’ and display, sold alongside the similar Apple II and Tandy’s TRS-80, which, though less sophisticated, was widely distributed through the electronics chain’s stores.

In the UK, Clive Sinclair’s Science of Cambridge Ltd launched its first microcomputer kit, the MK14, for £40 in 1978. This was followed in February 1980 by the ZX80, which cost under £100 (roughly £320 today) in kit form, but which was also available pre-assembled. It went on to sell 50,000 units before its replacement a year later by the ZX81, which sold an astonishing 1.5 million units.

The ZX81 flew off the shelves back in 1981

While there were many buyers, however, the proliferation of non-compatible systems was far from ideal. Each manufacturer had its own user-base, each running programs that were generally incompatible with other makes and models. This kept the personal computer community fragmented, but it also provided a headache for developers. Michael Shrayer, whose Electric Pencil became in 1976 the first word processor for home computers, reportedly compiled 78 versions to run on the different platforms, operating systems and display capabilities of the time. Even as the ZX81 was enjoying its enormous success, IBM announced a product that would refocus the market, and become the bedrock of personal computing for at least the next 30 years: the IBM Personal Computer.