First Commercial Desktop Computer

Produced by italian manufacturer olivetti based in ivrea piedmont and invented by the italian engineer pier giorgio perotto the p101 has the main features of large computers of that period.

First commercial desktop computer.

It was the first example of what would today be recognized as a complete personal computer. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user rather than by a computer expert or technician unlike large costly minicomputers and mainframes time sharing by many people at the same time is not used with personal computers. Lisa is the first commercial personal computer with a graphical user interface gui. In 1973 xerox parc developed the alto personal computer.

It was thus an important milestone in computing as soon microsoft windows and the apple macintosh would soon adopt the gui as their user interface making it the new paradigm for personal computing. The january issue of popular electronics magazine features the altair 8080 described as the world s first minicomputer kit to rival commercial models two computer geeks paul allen and. Although manufactured by remington rand the machine was often mistakenly referred to as the ibm univac univac computers were used in many different applications but utilities insurance companies and the us military were major customers. In 1964 the first desktop computer the programma 101 was unveiled to the public at the new york world s fair.

The first ibm pc formally known as the ibm model 5150 was based on a 4 77 mhz intel 8088 microprocessor and used microsoft s ms dos operating system. The first desktop and mass market computer. It was invented by pier giorgio perotto and manufactured by olivetti. The xerox alto developed at xerox parc in 1973 was the first computer to use a mouse the desktop metaphor and a graphical user interface gui concepts first introduced by douglas engelbart while at international.

In 1960 digital equipment corporation released its first of many pdp computers the pdp 1. The olivetti programma 101 also known as perottina or p101 is one of the first all in one commercial desktop programmable calculators although not the first. A personal computer pc is a multi purpose computer whose size capabilities and price make it feasible for individual use. The univac 1 is the first commercial computer to attract widespread public attention.

Ibm s brand recognition along with a massive marketing campaign ignites the fast growth of the personal computer market with the announcement of its own personal computer pc.