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The History Of Ibm Computers Essay

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The history of IBM computers began in 1943, when the company created Mark I weighing nearly 4.5 tons (Yost 25). Already in 1952, the first big lamp computer IBM 701 appeared, and in 1959, IBM introduced the first transistor computers which reached such a level of reliability and performance that the U.S. Air Force found it possible to apply them in the early warning system of air defense (Yost 27-35). IBM is also the developer of the first general purpose computers, first computers with a byte-addressable memory (1964 IBM System/360), as well as Personal Computer (IBM PC, 1981) (Yost 87-90). The company owns such significant scientific and technological developments as the invention of hard drive and floppy drive, Dynamic Random Access Memory application, universal computer language SQL, the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity, and other truly revolutionary innovations.

As a result, at one time, IBM was producing up to 90% of all computers in the United States (Yost 113). The architecture of IBM PC became the de facto standard for the whole industry, and its openness greatly contributed to the huge success of IBM PC and mass production of PC-compatible clones by other companies, and, ultimately, to the unfolding of personal computers and computer revolution era. Until now, IBM-compatible computers still make about 90% of all the personal computers produced (Yost 171). However, contrary to its tough principles of intellectual property protection, IBM patented

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