The first portable PC, the founding of Dell and the Origin shitstorm (PCGH-Retro 04 Nov)

… 1982: The personal computer with x86 technology is an open platform. Countless manufacturers offer their own PCs, always compatible with the 1981 original from IBM – and thus help this system to achieve a breakthrough: The strong competition leads to falling prices, the unconditional compatibility of all PCs allows the software market to grow. IBM-compatible PCs dominate the market just a few years after their introduction, displacing most other platforms. But how did it happen?

The development begins on November 4, 1982: On this day, the young company Compaq announces the first PC that does not come from IBM itself, the Compaq Portable PC. This is not what the inventor intended, IBM does not actually issue a license for the construction of compatible computers. But that’s not necessary either: All components, such as the processor manufactured by Intel, are freely available, the DOS operating system comes from Microsoft, and the BIOS is simply reprogrammed by Compaq using the legal reverse engineering process. This makes the Compaq PC almost 100% compatible with the original, so it can use the same software offering – at a much lower price. But that’s not all: the Portable PC with its integrated screen is also the first reasonably portable x86 PC. The success of this computer, which hits the market in early 1983, inspires other companies to try to replicate the IBM PC – and the story takes its course.

… 1984: Without Compaq’s pioneering work, this success story would hardly be conceivable: On November 4, 1984, Michael Dell founded the company in a garage that would later become the largest PC manufacturer in the world, Dell Computer. Initially, however, the company was still called “PC’s Limited”. Dell’s business idea: assemble IBM-compatible computers according to customer requirements and send them directly – without going through a dealer. The concept proves to be successful and soon finds imitators with Gateway 2000 and others.

… 2012: Text deserts in continuous capitalization and legal gibberish – anyone who has ever looked into a so-called End-User License Agreement, or EULA for short, will either have done so as part of their law studies or have closed the file immediately in shock. In any case, common practice is to leaf through it as quickly as possible and then nod without thinking. Whether the eye-popping EULA of EA’s Origin service was unleashed on consumers as it was on purpose or simply due to a lack of due diligence is uncertain. The fact is, however, that someone apparently read this EULA carefully and the resulting web anger also drew the attention of data protection officers from North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, to the contract that EA forced customers to use in the Battlefield 3 package. Not only for this reason, there were return campaigns at large electrical retail chains and, as a result, the EULA was improved, which was compatible with German law.