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Events on Wednesday 12 August 1981 4
1981IBM PC launches on Intel 8088IBM launches the IBM PC on 12 August 1981, powered by Intel's 8088 processor running at 4.77MHz. The IBM PC's open architecture — using standard components including Intel chips and Microsoft DOS — allows clone manufacturers to build compatible machines, creating an enormous market for Intel processors. Every IBM PC clone that follows must use an Intel-compatible processor (or an exact clone of one). The IBM PC launch is the most important moment in Intel's history — it creates the x86 PC ecosystem that sustains Intel for four decades.
1981IBM PC — the machine that defined personal computingIBM announces the IBM Personal Computer (model 5150) on 12 August 1981, using an Intel 8088 processor and Microsoft DOS operating system — both sourced from outside suppliers in an unprecedented departure from IBM's vertically integrated model. The decision to use outside suppliers and publish an open architecture is made partly to move fast (the PC is developed in just 12 months) and partly to avoid antitrust scrutiny. The IBM PC defines the personal computer standard; within two years it has 75% market share. It also contains the seeds of IBM's eventual decline: competitors can clone it.
1981IBM launches the IBM Personal ComputerModel 5150 establishes the PC industry standardIBM released the IBM Personal Computer (model 5150) on 12 August 1981, running Microsoft's newly written MS-DOS operating system. Its open architecture made it the basis for the "IBM-compatible" PC industry that followed. The machine reshaped business and home computing over the following decade.
1981Microsoft releases MS-DOSOperating system ships with the first IBM PCMicrosoft released version 1.0 of MS-DOS on 12 August 1981 as the operating system for the newly launched IBM Personal Computer. Microsoft had acquired the underlying code, originally known as QDOS, and adapted it for IBM. MS-DOS became the dominant operating system for personal computers through the 1980s.