IBM PC Pioneer, William C Lowe Dies, Aged 72

William C Lowe, the man who oversaw IBM’s first personal computer, died last week aged 72. A true driving force behind IBM’s Personal Computer, which was known as the 5150, Lowe ensured its successful launch in August 1981.

Apple had launched their first computer a few years before but the 5150 saw IBM leave its traditional mainframe routes and dip into the PC market for the first time.

The IBM machine used an operating system called MS-DOS 1.0 that was provided by a little-known technology company called Microsoft. Its microprocessor came from Intel.

At the time the machine cost $1,565 – about $4,000 in today’s money and it didn’t even come with a monitor. Amazingly it sold 250,000 units in its first year and three years later Lowe came up with the brain child of getting IBM selling its own brand computers targeted at small businesses and consumers.

A key success of the IBM PC project was the collaboration with Microsoft and in 1985 the two companies agreed to develop software together that could also run on other machines.

This approach ultimately allowed other manufactures to build IBM compatible machines more cheaply but undoubtedly it was the catalyst to creating the PC market that we know today.

Mr Lowe died on 19 October 2013 from a heart attack.