1972 Xerox Alto
Many features of future PCs
But too expensive for personal use

1975 Altair 8800
A personal mini for $400

1977-79 The Second Wave
Radio Shack TRS-80
Commodore Pet
Apple II - VisiCalc

1981 IBM PC
IBM Does It Again!
Followed by IBM PC Clones

1983 Jan 3 "Machine of the Year"
Time magazine cover story

1983 Lisa
1984 Macintosh
Apple Computer

1985 MS Windows 1.0
1990 MS Windows 3.0
Microsoft

These notes are taken primarily from (1) and (2). Need specific citations.

Software
Games (with human interaction)
Educational programs
Business
- Spreadsheet (VisiCalc, others)
- Word processor
- WordStar from MicroPro (Seymour Rubinstein), WYSIWYG
- Database

Notes

1. Martin Campbell-Kelly and William Aspray. Computer: A History of the Information Machine (Basic Books, 1996).

2. Paul E. Ceruzzi, A History of Modern Computing, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003).

Bibliography

"Old-computers.com: Museum," http://www.old-computers.com/museum/default.asp (www.old-computers.com, accessed 2004 Nov 27). These pages have information on a wide variety of computers from 1950-1999.

"Welcome to the Obsolete Technology Website," http://oldcomputers.net/index.html (oldcomputers.net, accessed 2004 Nov 26). These pages have a timeline from 1971-1989 and information on several dozen personal computers from that period.

Steven Weyhrich, "Apple II History," http://apple2history.org/ (forethought.net, accessed 2004 Nov 27). This history includes the Apple I.