The best of 20 years
ince 1978, InfoWorld (known as Intelligent Machines Journal until 1980) has tracked thousands of computing products, services, and companies as they've evolved from geek chic to serious business investments -- everything from Commodores, TRS-80s, and bubble memory, to today's enterprise resource planning and Internet applications. Looking back at computing in the past 20 years, we've culled significant "picks" -- hardware, software, vendors, and people -- that are woven into InfoWorld's history and helped define business computing. But we didn't stop there: We've also compiled a 20-year timeline -- throughout this issue -- that pinpoints computing milestones in context with the social and cultural backdrop of the time.
- -- InfoWorld editors
Bigger isn't better: the evolution of portables
One aspect of computing that the creators of Star Trek did not anticipate was the need to take data and a keyboard with you. Today's handheld PCs have come a long way from the first attempts, yielding unglamorous, not-so-portable devices. Here's a look at how portable computers evolved from clunky and cumbersome to classy and convenient.
THE "LUGGABLE" PORTABLES. The first not-so-portable portable was created in 1981 by Adam Osborne. The Osborne 1 weighed 24 pounds and cost $1,795. Then, in 1982, the Hewlett-Packard Portable HP75C and the Compaq Portable PC came on to the scene, and were dubbed "luggable" by InfoWorld's product reviews staff at the time. At a price of $3,000, the Portable PC, which shipped in 1983, came with 128KB of RAM, a 9-inch monochrome display, a 4.77-MHz 8088 processor, and an optional 5.25-inch floppy disk drive. Although you had to go to the gym to have the muscles to actually consider this portable, it was fairly compatible with desktop PCs and actually could go with you. By 1983, the Commodore SX-64 color portable joined this group of luggable portables, weighing in at approximately 23 pounds, with a 5-inch monitor, and a 5.25-inch floppy drive for a price of $1,600.
THE LAPTOPS. At about the same time that so-called portables were making waves, the first of what could be called "laptop" computers came on to the scene: the Epson HX-20 and Tandy TRS-80 Model 100. Arriving in 1982, the HX-20, whose operating system was on a microcassette, literally was a notebook-size, 3-pound device with 16KB of RAM, 32KB of ROM, an LCD, and a printer. With its operating system in ROM, the TRS-80 Model 100 -- released in 1983 -- used the 80C85 processor, sported a built-in modem, ran on four AA batteries, and cost only $800 (for the 8KB RAM version).THE CLAMSHELLS. "Clamshell" portable PCs emerged in the 1990s, using LCDs or electroluminescent displays. We've heard all the "stink-pad" jokes, but the IBM ThinkPads, which came onto the scene in 1992, embodied more innovation and improved features than others. The ThinkPad 701C, which arrived in March 1995, included the butterfly keyboard and a thin-film-transistor display, a 486DX2 processor running at 50 MHz, and a 14.4Kbps fax/modem while weighing in at 4.3 pounds. Other clamshells of note include the 1996 HP OmniBook 800 notebook -- which proved that less is more by cramming a 10.4-inch active-matrix screen, 16MB of RAM, a 1.44GB hard drive, a PCI bus, and a 133-MHz Pentium processor into 3.75 pounds -- and the Toshiba T-3100 series, the company's first U.S. laptop line.
THE POWERBOOKS. Arriving to the party a bit late, the PowerBook was such a leap forward that it has become pervasive even in non-Macintosh circles. However, little did you know that the original Apple portable was the 16-pound Mac Portable, released in 1989, which didn't make a splash for obvious reasons. But its 1991 successor, the "all-in-one" PowerBook line of the 100, 140, and 170, was a big step forward for Apple, introducing the clamshell design and weighing approximately 5 pounds. The 140 and 170 would become the big hits to boost Apple to innovator status in the portables department. Recent generations of PowerBooks -- including the latest G3s -- continue to lead the portables market in speed and design.
THE HANDHELDS, PALMTOPS. Released in 1996, the Compaq PC Companion was the first of the next-generation portables running Windows CE, complete with a wide screen and a keyboard. The PC Companion weighed less than 1 pound, at 7 inches wide and 3.5 inches deep. Running on AA batteries that supposedly lasted as long as 20 hours, the PC Companion (for the 2MB RAM version) cost only $499.
But Compaq wasn't the first out of the gate with a palmtop/handheld device: In 1991 HP released its HP 95LX palmtop PC, weighing in at 11 ounces and running Lotus 1-2-3 software with calculation features and data-communication capabilities; and Apple shipped its first Newton handheld in 1993, garnering a significant following for a time. Yet, since the Compaq release, most PC makers have followed the Windows CE trail, raising the features/price bar considerably higher.
But the USR-3Com PalmPilots, the pioneers of palm-size PC devices (sans keyboards), have resisted the temptation to ramp up, maintaining small sizes and prices by snubbing the Windows OS. Although early critics dissed these single-purpose communicators, the form factors and features have kept usage high. Who knows, we could be just a few steps away from that Star Trek tricorder.
Everyday necessities: the building blocks
Foundational products, whether revolutionary or purely functional, are in a category all their own. Milestones such as the IBM PC, the granddaddy of all corporate PCs, represent major first steps that led to business computing as we know it. For example, those operating systems we love to hate -- DOS and Windows 3.0 -- brought with them the functionality and stability to procure today's booming software industry and the ubiquity of the PC. Before Excel there was Lotus 1-2-3, the application that turned a desktop computer into a business tool. But before Lotus 1-2-3 there was VisiCalc. And although we believe Lotus 1-2-3 defined the spreadsheet category and stimulated IBM PC sales, VisiCalc was the first to show businesses what a personal computer, notably the Apple II, could do. Likewise, WordStar represented the first word processor for everyday business use. But we also hail WordPerfect, the upstart that eventually replaced WordStar, for its business innovation and strong technical support, which set a standard for the software industry. Another essential building block was Ethernet. Invented in 1973 by Bob Metcalfe and patented in 1978, Ethernet represented the birth of the LAN as we know it; there are now 118 million or so PC Ethernets installed, made up of products from many vendors. The Hayes command set also spawned networking technology that we can't live without: modems. As the variety of modems has grown, most at least loosely adhere to the Hayes standard. Other key stepping stones for the growth of corporate networking include switches, twisted-pair cable, and PC Cards -- formerly known as PCMCIA cards.
Released in 1984, HP's LaserJet stands on its own as a corporate hardware cornerstone: For a time, HP LaserJets hands-down won InfoWorld Product of the Year awards in the hardware category, beating out the years' laptops, desktop PCs, monitors, and storage systems. And stemming from the technology that brought us the '80s version of vinyl, CD-ROMs get our nod for revolutionizing software delivery with their capability to carry more than 550MB of prerecorded data on a single disc. Laying the groundwork for the corporate workhorse applications to come, Ashton-Tate's dBase II (even dBase III and III+) deserves accolades for setting the early industry standard for business databases. For a time, the dBase world was an industry unto itself. Launching the network-software industry was Novell and its ubiquitous NetWare. Not only did it help the corporate LAN take off, NetWare also managed to survive the onset of hearty competition and still owns the lion's share of the network OS market. Finally, e-mail (in all forms) and the ground-breaking Netscape Navigator browser -- essential building blocks for corporate Internet use -- fundamentally changed the way we do business. Who could live without e-mail now? We applaud these everyday necessities for sowing the seeds for corporate computing's outgrowth.
The free world: developments we share
Even in the world of IT, the best things in life can be free. Take the World Wide Web, for starters. Thanks to the real genius of Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina's Mosaic browser (Netscape's predecessor) and CERN researcher Tim Berners-Lee's HTML -- both free -- the Web capitalized on a gigantic, global net of computers to change the face of business and communications. Making use of the Internet's efficient distribution infrastructure, shareware and bulletin-board systems boosted the concepts of free code and computer conversation. Invented by Andrew Fluegelman and Jim Knopf (aka Jim Button), shareware, the concept of creating a program and allowing users to try it and pay for it later, took off from person-to-person distribution to BBSes and then the Web. All manners of beneficial and buggy software can be found on the Internet, and many technical problems have been solved by good Samaritans frequenting BBSes. Then there's Linux, the generally great operating system that's free to boot and making its way to a corporate network near you. It's hard to imagine a successful operating system (of all things) coming from an anarchistic bunch of programmers, but it's true and it's happening. Although free only to those who enjoy its benefits, Adobe PostScript was an innovation that we can all appreciate. Without the PostScript display language, which debuted in 1985 via Adobe's Illustrator, the Macintosh might've been just another expensive computer rather than a graphic-design godsend. Lastly, innovative touchscreens in key places -- libraries, airports, and shopping centers -- have lived true to their promise of putting "free" information at users' fingertips.
Industry innovations: the best and the brightest
Although the IBM PC's business attitude fathered the new era of corporate computing, the innovator of the desktop as we know it was Apple, hands down. As the budding company was moving out of Steve Jobs' garage, the Apple II was breaking new ground for desktop computing, sporting 4KB of RAM and a cassette tape with the computer game Breakout for a price of approximately $1,300. The Apple II became an instant hit that would not be outdone until 1984, when Apple aired its legendary one-time Super Bowl ad unveiling the GUI-enhanced, mouse-driven Macintosh, thus announcing its resistance to IBM-Microsoft conformity. A more marketable sibling to Lisa, Apple's first stab at GUI computing, the first Mac delivered on its promise. But if there was any lesson learned in the PC business during the 1980s, it was that no manufacturer could provide all computers to all users. The Commodore 64, the 64-bit computing machine that began finding its way into households in 1982, was one of the most memorable first efforts to fuel home computing.
Then there was the long-forgotten Xerox 8010 Workstation, better known as the Xerox Star, which arrived in 1981. It bundled features ahead of its time: an Ethernet network architecture; GUI features; point-and-click mouse functionality; and tightly integrated spreadsheet, e-mail, and graphics programs. But its hefty price tag -- $16,000 to $17,000 -- left this early PC innovator in the dust.
Before the cornucopia of today's application-development choices, Basic and Turbo Pascal made a splash in fledgling programming circles. Harvard dropout Bill Gates' Basic probably was used to develop more PC games than killer applications, but it did get the ball rolling for PC development. And Borland's Turbo Pascal was the early, and affordable, desktop development tool that turned many college students into budding programmers.
If Microsoft can be credited with any software innovations, its Mac Word and Mac Excel are it. Both were the first real applications to take advantage of GUI features. Not surprisingly, another software innovation -- Aldus PageMaker -- did wonders for the early Macintosh. PageMaker also ushered in the world of desktop publishing as we know it.
Iomega's Bernoulli drive struck gold with a removable, "movable" media drive, the industry leader that made it possible to take 40MB-plus files on the road. The Bernoulli only recently was dethroned as the convenient storage king by Iomega's latest prodigy, the Zip drive. Both represent innovative storage solutions from a company that unfortunately keeps running into trouble.