Computers
Definition Electronic devices that receive,
process, store, and output data based on
programmed instructions
In the 1980’s, microcomputers ceased to be mere hobbyists’
toys and became a significant part of personal, business,
and scientific computing. Rapid advances in small com-
puter hardware and software resulted in the development of
numerous high-quality microcomputers. In particular, the
introduction of the IBM PC in 1981 made the microcom-
puter acceptable for business applications, and much of the
success of the microcomputer in the 1980’s can be attributed
to the success of the IBM PC and its clones.
The desire to solve computationally intensive prob-
lems led to many important developments in super-
computer hardware in the 1980’s. Cray, Control
Data Corporation, Intel, and the Connection Ma-
chine Company all produced new supercomputers
during this period, making significant improvements
in central processing units (CPUs), memory, disk
drives, and buses. While supercomputer software
development was not as impressive as that of hard-
ware, software developers made advances in multi-
processor operating systems and were able to opti-
mize compilers. Many of the advances made first
in supercomputers in the 1980’s, such as vector-
processing CPUs, would appear in mainframes and
microcomputers in the 1990’s.
The development of mainframe hardware and
software continued at a steady pace during the
1980’s, but for the most part it did not keep up with
the advances in microcomputers and supercomput-
ers. One exception was the development of rela-
tional database software. Oracle 2 (there never was
an Oracle 1) was released in 1979, and DB2 was re-
leased by International Business Machines (IBM) in
- Both products steadily increased their share of
the database market. The importance of managing
data became a central theme of computing in the
1980’s, setting the stage for the modern concept of a
data warehouse.
In the 1980’s, both local and wide area network-
ing made great strides. The advances in Transmis-
sion-Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
in the 1980’s set the stage for the explosion of the
Internet in the 1990’s. The 1980’s also marked sig-
nificant advances in the development of operating
systems, including DOS, UNIX, and Windows. Inter-
estingly, although little attention had been paid to
computer security before the 1980’s, the first major
online attacks appeared during this time, resulting
in initial efforts to render computers secure and pro-
tect users’ privacy.Microcomputers The first microcomputer, the
MITS Altair, was sold in 1975. Many hobbyists used
these computers in the late 1970’s, and both hobby-
ists and home users purchased Apple Computer’s Ap-
ple II after its release in 1977. In the 1980’s, many new
and innovative hardware products were released. Disk
storage devices such as the 3.5-inch floppy disk drive,
hard disk drive, and CD-ROM drive were introduced
and improved during the 1980’s. The first modem to
interface with microcomputers was introduced in
1984 by Hayes, and the first commercially available la-
ser printer was sold in the same year by Hewlett-
Packard (HP). Although first introduced in 1963, the
mouse was popularized in the mid-1980’s. Intel intro-
duced the increasingly powerful 80286, 80386, and
80486 chips. These chips and similar high-perfor-
mance CPU and memory chips manufactured by
other companies allowed the computer industry to
produce many inexpensive microcomputers.
Some of the individual microcomputers first in-
troduced in the 1980’s include the IBM PC in 1981,
IBM PC clones in 1982, the IBM XT in 1983, and
the IBM AT in 1984. The first portable computer,
the Osborne I, was introduced in 1981. The Apple
Macintosh was released in 1984, and Dell Computer
Corporation was founded in the same year. Growth
in the personal computer industry was explosive in
the 1980’s, going from 300,000 units sold in 1981 to
more than 3 million units sold in 1982. Despite this
growth, not all microcomputers were successful. The
Apple III was released in 1980 and had no market
penetration. The Apple Lisa, released in 1982, was
very expensive and also had poor sales. The IBM PS/
2 was released in 1987. It stressed a proprietary archi-
tecture that was not widely adopted.
Software development for microcomputers in
the 1980’s was an equally explosive field. The DOS
microcomputer operating system, introduced by
Microsoft in 1981, was simple but powerful. Several
windowed operating systems, with easy-to-use graph-
ical user interfaces (GUIs), were developed in the
1980’s, based on the GUI developed at the Xerox
Palo Alto Research Center (Xerox PARC) in the
1970’s.238 Computers The Eighties in America