1) Gary Kildall, president of Digital Research, invented, developed, and marketed the dominant commercial business oriented computer operating system, Control Program for Microcomputers (CPM), but did not become fabulously wealthy; why? Explain.
Gary Kildall did not become fabulously wealthy or even wealthy from CPM, or any of his other technological endevours, because he was a gifted "techie" but not a gifted businessman; he was complacent and over-confident. As well, his business partner, his wife Dorothy McEwan (later divorced), didn't realize the incredible opportunity for financial success that would result from licensing CP/M to IBM. IBM needed an operating system for the IBM PC, their first personal computer, and met with Dorothy McEwan, who was overly cautious about agreeing to the non-disclosure agreement IBM required, refused to alter CP/M-86 and demanded a higher royalty fee than IBM offered. She was also distracted from focusing on the negotiations with IBM because of other in-process negotiations with Hewlett-Packard and making arrangements for her vacation which was to begin the next day. Consequently, IBM negotiated a license for DOS and BASIC with Microsoft. Also, due to limited funds, Gary Kildall was unable to sue Microsoft and IBM for copying many of the essential features of CP/M-86. Again and again, Microsoft prevailed because of Bill Gates' superior business skills, and his unfair and illegal business practises which Gary Kildall and others were unable to prevent or stop. Gary Kildall also invented and developed many other computer technologies which others took advantage of but he was unable (and unwilling?) to profit from them.
(http://www.cadigital.com/kildall.htm , http://www.maxframe.com/EUBANKS.HTM , http://www.gaby.de/kildall.htm)
2) What were the modern personal computer innovations invented and developed at Xerox PARC? Why didn't Xerox commercially exploit the technologies it developed? What other technology company failed to commercially exploit an innovative opportunity/invention, what was that opportunity, and why didn't the company develop it?
Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) was responsible for the invention of many standard features of the modern computer and information systems. The visionaries and scientists at PARC invented the Graphic User Interface (GUI), the development of a practical mouse, What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) visual displays and text editing, the laser printer which enabled printing WYsIWYG, the desktop computer, Ethernet networking, the Smalltalk object-oriented programming language, the Interpress graphical page description language which was developed into Postscript, Office workflow systems, desktop publishing, Ubiquitous/Pervasive Computing, Aspect Oriented Programming. Xerox failed to exploit the ideas and technologies of PARC such as the GUI which was the technology used in the Alto computer and later developed into the Xerox Star workstation computer because not enough Xerox Star units were sold (25,000) to be considered a commercial success. The return on investment of the Xerox Star workstation was too small for Xerox which was a very large company. Photocopiers was the main business of Xerox and management couldn't see the justification for further investment in the then unrealized potential of the computer technology they had invented and developed.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_PARC , http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,16028,00.html)
Hewlett-Packard is another company which didn't see the potential in the personal computer invented by Steve Wozniak. In the film Pirates of Silicon Valley, Steve Wozniak was required to offer anything he invented which was electronic to his part-time employer, Hewlett-Packard. Hewlett-Packard released their rights to Wozniak's invention apparently because it looked so primitive and was extremely limited in its function. At the time, Hewlett-Packard was focused on inventing, designing, and manufacturing very high quality electronic test equipment and, like Xerox, couldn't see the potential in developing a product which didn't fit into their main business. Ironically, Hewlett-Packard is now licensed to sell Apple's iPod and iTunes with Hewlett-Packard computers.
(http://www.iht.com/articles/124362.html)
CL Computer Products was another company which failed to exploit its product QDOS, a CP/M operating system clone, because it didn't license QDOS instead of selling it to Microsoft. Because Microsoft fully owned QDOS (purchased for $50,000 U.S.), it was able to license it to IBM and IBM clone makers without further benefitting CL Computer Products.
3) What was Steve Jobs' competitive motivation for developing the Macintosh and did he achieve his goal? Explain.
IBM sold a personal computer made from off-the-shelf components, the IBM PC, which ran IBM DOS, a version of Microsoft DOS, which was a command-line interface operating system. Steve Jobs developed the Apple Macintosh and its GUI operating system to wipe out IBM from the personal computer business. Jobs was obsessed with this goal because IBM had pushed Apple to the sidelines of the personal computer business when IBM marketed the IBM PC to compete with the Apple II. He thought that anyone could see that the Macintosh and its GUI operating system was far superior in capablilities and easier to use than the IBM PC and DOS.
He didn't achieve his goal because the real enemy was Microsoft, not IBM. The IBM PC had open-architecture hardware which could be easily cloned and could operate with various operating systems such as IBM DOS, MSDOS, CP/M,(except Apple's). The Macintosh computer and the Macintosh operating system (MacOS) was designed and manufactured by Apple and was a closed-architecture system which no one was allowed to clone and it's GUI operating system would only run on a Macintosh computer and Apple wouldn't license it to other companies (until much later). At the time, Steve Jobs didn't understand the significance of open versus closed architecture and licensing of operating system sofware to other companies. The open-architecture of the IBM PC, the licensing of Microsoft's operating systems (DOS and Windows), and their lower cost compared to the Apple Macintosh, enabled the Intel microprocessor based personal computer (the IBM PC used an Intel microprocessor) and Microsoft's operating systems to become the de-facto standards of the personal computer industry. As well, from the very first Macintosh, Apple was, and still is, highly dependent on Microsoft application software, such as Microsoft Office, to enable the Macintosh to be useful and compatible with the Microsoft application software most people use on Intel microprocessor based personal computers.
4) Why were the first Apple Macintosh computers commercially unsuccessful but, by contrast, the first IBM PC commercially successful? Explain. Is this, or is this not, similar to how IBM became dominant in the computer mainframe business? Explain.
The first Apple Macintosh was a technological but not a commercial success. It was not commercially successful because it had very little application software and no pre-existing software would run on it, it did not have enough RAM memory to run the application software well, it cost $1,000 more than an IBM type PC. By contrast, the first IBM PC became commercially successful because the magic letters, IBM, were on it. International Business Machines was dominant in the mainframe business which most large businesses used (like Microsoft is now), it had a very large sales and support workforce which were experienced in selling and servicing business computers and software, it was the world's largest corporation.
The route to the commercial success of the IBM PC business was very similar to that of the IBM mainframe computer business. At first, IBM wasn't in the PC business but later, when IBM management realized that the PC threatened their mainframe business, they developed their own PC. This was very similar to what happened when the main business of IBM was punch card tabulation systems and their customers began purchasing competitors' electronic business computers instead of continuing to purchase IBM tabulators. IBM was well behind, but it prevailed in the marketplace when it made a competing product available.
5) We now think of Windows-Intel (WIntel) personal computers rather than the IBM PC, how were Microsoft and Intel able to become so well known and successful as product brands? Explain.
Microsoft and Intel were able to take advantage of the pre-existing commercial success of IBM and its solid reputation with business. Intel and Microsoft didn't need to promote their products because this was being done by their association with IBM; when IBM sold a PC, the customer knew it used an Intel microprocessor and Microsoft's operating system and application software. The customer's confidence and trust in IBM was automatically conferred on Intel and Microsoft; if IBM used Intel and Microsoft products, then those companies and their products must be good too.
6)How did Microsoft become dominant over Apple, then IBM, in the personal computer industry? Explain.
Microsfoft became dominant over Apple because it was able to take advantage of its business relationship with IBM. As the IBM PC became more popular than Apple's products, Microsoft also became well known and dominant in the PC market too. Apple didn't have a "Killer Application" to create a high demand for the Macintosh, it had MacPaint (produced by Apple) and MacWrite (produced by Microsoft) but no spreadsheet whereas the IBM PC also had word processing and more business application software such as Lotus 1-2-3. As well, because the IBM PC became more successful than Apple's computers, more application software was developed by other companies to run under Microsoft's operating system which created a bigger market for Microsoft's products than Apple's.
When the IBM PC was first sold, it was the only Intel microprocessor based PC but, because IBM didn't prevent other companies (competitors) from cloning the hardware, it lost control of the Intel based PC hardware. As well, because it didn't own the microprocessor technology and the operating system, it wasn't able to receive any income from those products which were owned by Intel and Microsoft. In order to take adavantage of IBM's market and be competitive, the IBM PC clone makers (makers of IBM PC compatible computers) had to use the same Intel microprocessor and Microsoft operating system used in the IBM PC which increased sales of Intel and Microsoft products but decreased sales of the IBM PC. Eventually, the personal computers IBM sold just became part of a the large Intel/Microsoft PC (WIntel) market.
7)Why does the best technology not always become the most commercially successful. Explain with example(s).
There are many reasons why the best technology doesn't prevail in the marketplace. Some reasons are: people are reluctant to use technology is too different from what they are familiar with; converting from pre-existing technology to new technology is expensive; people don't trust unproven new technology (Remington Rand vs IBM); product promotion is inadequate; the new technology is not well-protected by patents and litigation to prevent competitors from incorporating it wholly or partially into their own products (Digital Research vs Microsoft and Xerox vs Apple Vs Microsoft); executive decisions are made which don't take commercial advantage of a new and better technology (Xerox, Hewlett-Packard); the company with the new and better technology is not as well known or trusted as the competitor with old and outdated technology (Apple vs IBM).
8) The Triumph Of The Nerds documentary series ends with Steve Jobs (Apple) and Steve Balmer (Microsoft) expressing their opinions about the relative merits of the Macintosh and Windows. Which of these personal computer systems, Mac or WIntel, have you used, which one do you mainly use, why do you use it and, if you have used both, which do you prefer and why? Do you think it is necessary to know how to use the Mac and Windows operating systems? Explain.
Preferences regarding which computer and operating system a person uses are personal. Usually a person continues to use what they started with because they are reluctant to change the way they do things the way they are used to. Most people began using a WIntel based PC when they were young and continue to do so. People who prefer to use the Apple Macintosh are much less likely to switch to a WIntel based PC than vice-versa.
The necessity of learning both depends on a person's personal needs and preferences and the requirements of school or the workplace. Some people use an Apple Macintosh at home but a WIntel based PC at school or work. Most people use the same computer, a WIntel based PC, at home, school and work. The Apple Macintosh used to be the only computer used in the graphic arts but, as the WIntel based PC has become more like the Macintosh, both computer types are now used. In business, the WIntel based PC is still overwhelmingly dominant. Most people use a WIntel based PC at home because it is cheaper than a Macintosh, is compatible with what they use elsewhere, and there is a great deal more software available for the WIntel based PC than for the Macintosh.