Who Invented The PC

When posed with the question of who invented the PC, or personal computer, many knowledgeable home computer users immediately think of Steven Jobs and Stephen Wozniak, who invented the Apple II computer and Incorporated Apple Computer, Inc. in 1977.
Although the Apple II computer was the first PC that was easy for most people to use, therefore making them more widely accepted by consumers, it’s creators were not the ones who invented the PC.   It is a widely accepted fact among computer historians that a man named Ed Roberts and his company, Micro Instrumentation Telemetry Systems, or MITS, invented the first primitive PC.

In the early 1970’s, MITS was a company that sold kits for assembling electronic devices.  With the focus on selling kits for programmable calculators quickly becoming a losing enterprise, Ed Roberts was looking for a new product that would boost his company’s profits.  Roberts found out that Intel had begun to manufacture microprocessors; relatively small microchips that could perform calculator functions, and when the Intel 8080 programmable microchip became available, Roberts decided to use it to create and market the first home computer kit, which he named the Altair 8080. 

Roberts himself was even surprised at the response he got from consumers who were amazed that there was someone out there who invented the PC that could be assembled and used at home successfully.  Response to the Altair 8080 was positive, and Roberts and MITS found a profitable market.  As popular as the Altair 8080 became with computer enthusiasts, it was still a rather cumbersome instrument to use.  Input into the computer was done with switches – there was no keyboard – and the computer displayed its information on a front panel using light emitting diodes, such as some digital alarm clocks do.  The Altair 8080 was arguably the first PC, as it could be used in homes instead of only businesses, and Ed Roberts can be justifiably heralded as the man who invented the PC. 

It was Steven Jobs and Stephen Wozniak, however, who invented the PC that actually made an entire nation, and later the world, really stand up and take notice.  No longer seen as something that could only be used by people who were highly knowledgeable in the use of computers, the PC suddenly became a product that was not frightening to use and could actually be a benefit to the home.  The Apple II came with a keyboard whose keys resembled those on an electric typewriter but with some added function symbols, and a color video display that really enhanced the PC’s informational output.  Slowly but surely, more consumers were buying PC’s, and the question of who invented the PC took a back seat to who was going to build an even better, stronger, and faster PC.  The competition began in earnest.

It no longer came down to who invented the PC, but who could invent new and exciting ways to use the PC, and new ways for the PC to benefit consumers.  A young man named Bill Gates became interested in PC’s at a very young age, and began his flourishing career in software manufacturing by helping Ed Roberts develop software for the Altair 8080.  Gates, of course, when on to form the company ‘Microsoft’, which invented the operating system software most widely used in modern PC’s today: Microsoft Windows.

The question of who invented the PC does not seem as important these days as the question “how far can the PC go?”  The personal computer is improved upon so often and so regularly that what is considered cutting edge at one time is seen as old news only a couple of years later.  One fact is clear, however; the PC is as much a staple in homes these days as the television.  It is here to stay.