5 ms·

I always laugh when I see 'PC' because I take it at is literal meaning - 'Personal Computer' - which always makes me wonder what about apple products, consoles,

I always laugh when I see 'PC' because I take it at is literal meaning - 'Personal Computer' - which always makes me wonder what about apple products, consoles, or even mobile phones makes them not either personal or computers. They all seem to be computers, they all seem pretty personal to me...

freehunter 13y ago
PC is a holdover from the popular IBM Personal Computer running Microsoft's PC DOS (later MS-DOS). IBM made PC a brand name in direct competition with Apple. When other companies started copying IBM, they made IBM PC Compatible devices and peripherals, generally with an x86 processor. By the 90's, "IBM PC Compatible" meant "an x86 processor running Windows", still in direct competition with Apple. So even though Apple uses x86 processors and technically it is a personal computer, "PC" still refers to the old brand name that is synonymous with Wintel. Apple has personal computers, Microsoft has Personal Computers.
- ChuckMcM 13y ago
  "PC is a holdover from the popular IBM Personal Computer running Microsoft's PC DOS ..." Of course it is, and much of what is sold with that moniker today is really more of an entertainment appliance than "computer." When my daughter was 5 or 6 and being told to "dial 9-1-1 for emergencies" she asked me "Why do they call it dialing?" So the interesting thing from the perspective of the Steam box is this is an entertainment console with a bunch of details about how the insides work. I'm sure that 95% of the people who buy it will have the exact same experience they would have had if they bought and Xbox One or PS4, and the other 5% will have a lot of fun making it do amazing things and not have to worry about getting sued or arrested for it [1]. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Computer_Entertainment_America_v._George_Hotz http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Computer_Entertainment_Ame...
- yuhong 13y ago
  Well, even Apple computers are IBM PC compatible nowadays, and today outside of a few exceptions it is difficult to make x86 computers that are not IBM PC compatible at the hardware level.
  - freehunter 13y ago
    As mentioned in my closing statement.
brc 13y ago
I have read a line (it might have been Steve Wozniak, or perhaps even Paul Graham, I forget) but it said that, when the idea of 'Personal Computer' was mentioned, it was audacious, like saying 'Personal Satellite' now. When the term PC was coined, computers were fridge sized horrifically expensive things that ran in research institutions and very large companies. The idea of having your own was...crazy. It is weird how the name has come to mean something based on the Wintel nexus, but that's marketing and differentiation for you.
valisystem 13y ago
To me it seems that the PC distinction comes more from the AT motherboard format used by IBM PC. It's the standard format that triggered the replaceable/upgradeable parts that made IBM PC popular, and really explain the PC naming for (non-apple) desktop computers.

freehunter 13y ago

PC is a holdover from the popular IBM Personal Computer running Microsoft's PC DOS (later MS-DOS). IBM made PC a brand name in direct competition with Apple. When other companies started copying IBM, they made IBM PC Compatible devices and peripherals, generally with an x86 processor. By the 90's, "IBM PC Compatible" meant "an x86 processor running Windows", still in direct competition with Apple. So even though Apple uses x86 processors and technically it is a personal computer, "PC" still refers to the old brand name that is synonymous with Wintel. Apple has personal computers, Microsoft has Personal Computers.

ChuckMcM 13y ago
"PC is a holdover from the popular IBM Personal Computer running Microsoft's PC DOS ..." Of course it is, and much of what is sold with that moniker today is really more of an entertainment appliance than "computer." When my daughter was 5 or 6 and being told to "dial 9-1-1 for emergencies" she asked me "Why do they call it dialing?" So the interesting thing from the perspective of the Steam box is this is an entertainment console with a bunch of details about how the insides work. I'm sure that 95% of the people who buy it will have the exact same experience they would have had if they bought and Xbox One or PS4, and the other 5% will have a lot of fun making it do amazing things and not have to worry about getting sued or arrested for it [1]. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Computer_Entertainment_America_v._George_Hotz http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Computer_Entertainment_Ame...
yuhong 13y ago
Well, even Apple computers are IBM PC compatible nowadays, and today outside of a few exceptions it is difficult to make x86 computers that are not IBM PC compatible at the hardware level.
- freehunter 13y ago
  As mentioned in my closing statement.

brc 13y ago

I have read a line (it might have been Steve Wozniak, or perhaps even Paul Graham, I forget) but it said that, when the idea of 'Personal Computer' was mentioned, it was audacious, like saying 'Personal Satellite' now. When the term PC was coined, computers were fridge sized horrifically expensive things that ran in research institutions and very large companies. The idea of having your own was...crazy. It is weird how the name has come to mean something based on the Wintel nexus, but that's marketing and differentiation for you.

valisystem 13y ago

To me it seems that the PC distinction comes more from the AT motherboard format used by IBM PC. It's the standard format that triggered the replaceable/upgradeable parts that made IBM PC popular, and really explain the PC naming for (non-apple) desktop computers.