On Tue, 2009-10-20 at 16:52 -0700, Bruce Johnson wrote:
>
> On Oct 20, 2009, at 4:36 PM, Richard Gerome wrote:
>
> >
> > How did that ever come to be??? I often wondered about that... It
> > should be PC for windows and PPC for Apples!!! In the old days I
> > always referred to them as Apple base or IBM base computer but
> > somewhere along the way someone changed it??? Who did??? CoolKat
> >
>
> Well calling an Apple a PPC would have been rather confusing in the
> day when Apple's ran on a 6502 CPU!
>
> In the beginning they were called generically 'microcomputers' in
> order to differentiate them from mainframe and minicomputers, which
> were still very large devices owned by universities and corporations.
>
> The abbreviation 'PC' specifically identifying DOS-based (and later
> Windows-based) computers dates back to the introduction of the IBM PC.
> Initially 'PC' ONLY referred to the IBM system; later systems that
> were compatible were called 'PC-Compatible'. They ALWAYS ran MS/PC-DOS
> and were based on the 8088 chip.
>
> It was NEVER used in the sense of 'all small consumer-owned
> computers', at least not in the computer literature of the time.
> Anyone referring to PC's in that fashion pretty much believed that all
> such computers WERE DOS/Windows-based systems.
>
In the mid 1970s, we were referring to computers built for home use as
PCs or personal computers. At the computer club I headed at Texas A&M,
our club PC was a Southwest Technical Products 6800 based machine. We
thought it was funny at the time that IBM was trying to claim the name
PC. PC was a common name for all personal computers. At least, it was
common here in the south.
Good day,
Ralph
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