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> there was a time when only IBM was capable of making PCs They may have been the only one's that could use the term "Personal Computer" for a short time, but
by nvrspyx 6y ago
> there was a time when only IBM was capable of making PCs
They may have been the only one's that could use the term "Personal Computer" for a short time, but they were not the only ones making PCs. You had Commodore, Amiga, HP, Wang, Apple, etc. Even still, IBM's PCs were not locked down and were, for the most part, based on an open architecture allowing you to freely upgrade parts. Later down the line (specifically the original IBM PC) when the technology allowed for it, you could even install other operating systems like CP/M-86, UCSD p-System, and MS-DOS.
- icedchai 6y agoIn the 80's, "PC" meant IBM or compatible. Nobody ever called their Apple, Amiga, Commodore 64, etc. a "PC." There were even some products, like the "Apple II PC Transporter" that made your Apple II compatible with a PC. That meant an IBM PC.
- nvrspyx 6y agoRight. My point was that "PC" was used exclusively for IBM as a marketing term, but it was not the only "personal computer" available. PC became a generalized term much later, although Apple still held on to PC being a term for any computer that was Windows-based (or simply any computer that wasn't a Mac).