Today marks the 40th anniversary of the launch of the IBM PC. I joined the company 13 years after (as an intern in the help desk) supporting the proprietary PS/1, the PS/2, home Aptiva, and OS/2 Warp.
More important than the decisions that were made during the rapid product development (outsourcing processor to small company called Intel, the OS to a small software company in Albuquerque called Microsoft, and the lack of exclusivity that created Compaq, Dell, and hundreds of other clones) was the creation of geo-fenced dealers that grew exponentially to become the channel we recognize today.
