Editing Commodity computing (section)

=== The mid-1960s to early 1980s ===
The first computers were large, expensive and proprietary.  The move towards commodity computing began when [[Digital Equipment Corporation|DEC]] introduced the [[PDP-8]] in 1965.  This was a computer that was relatively small and inexpensive enough that a department could purchase one without convening a meeting of the board of directors.  The entire [[minicomputer]] industry sprang up to supply the demand for 'small' computers like the PDP-8.  Unfortunately, each of the many different brands of minicomputers had to stand on its own because there was no software and very little hardware compatibility between the brands.

When the first general purpose [[microprocessor]] was introduced in 1971 ([[Intel 4004]]) it immediately began chipping away at the low end of the computer market, replacing [[embedded system|embedded minicomputers]] in many industrial devices.

This process accelerated in 1977 with the introduction of the first commodity-like [[microcomputer]], the [[Apple II]].  With the development of the [[VisiCalc]] application in 1979, microcomputers broke out of the factory and began entering office suites in large quantities, but still through the back door.