THE HISTORY OF COMPUTERS 3

3. THE PERSONAL COMPUTER OR PC

One night in January 1975, Bill Gates* was playing cards with some friends at his University (Harvard University**). Suddenly his friend Paul Allen rushed into the room with a magazine. It had a picture of a new computer called Altair. It was the first computer of the world. Bill and Paul had both loved computers. They had startes a company together which used computers to calculate the best routes for traffic on busy roads. In 1975 the computer industry was almost completely controlled by one computer: IBM.
So Bill and Paul wrote a software program and sold it to Altair. Soon Bill left Harvard and started to work with Paul. They tealized that even small computers "micro computers" would need the software and they called his company Microsoft. This was the beginning of a new industry.
Apple*** Computer (founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in California) was the big succes story of the computer in the industry: they took a product that was unfriendly and turned it into something that could be found besides televisions and radios in ordinary US homes. In the 1980s computers become common. They began to appear in every area of life.

BILL GATES*
HARVARD UNIVERSITY**
APPLE***