When talking about global benchmarks, people use the expression "global standard." A standard means a benchmark. A standard is a promise that spans the economy, industry, and technology. Technological progress can create the need for a "standard," but a single standard can also drive a leap of revolutionary scale. Based on a survey of experts from industry, academia, research, and the press, the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards and ChosunBiz selected the "top 10 standards that changed the world" and the "top 10 standards that changed the lives and economy of Koreans," and they reexamine the role of standards. [Editor's note]
In Jan. 1983, the U.S. newsweekly Time put the "machine of the year" on its front page for the first time since its founding, instead of the "person of the year." It was a computer called the "PC (Personal Computer)" that U.S. IT giant IBM had released a year and four months earlier. IBM's PC is regarded as the greatest invention of the 20th century that ushered in the era of one computer per household. At the same time, it is also said to be the worst mistake in IBM's history.
IBM's history could be called the history of the global computer industry. Founded in 1911, it released the commercial computer (IBM 650) in 1954, becoming a monopoly with an 80% market share in just a year. The IBM 650 cost $200,000, about 100 times the U.S. per capita gross domestic product (GDP) at the time. Its size was said to be about that of a modern refrigerator. As a result, computers were mainly bought by governments, public institutions, and corporations.
Then in the late 1970s, Apple of Steve Jobs brought a wind of change by introducing the "microcomputer." The "Apple I," released in 1976, cost only $666.66. It was just a circuit board, and the monitor and keyboard had to be purchased separately. Above all, Apple produced only 200 units, so it did not spread widely. The Apple II, released the following year, was a preassembled computer priced at $1,298 and weighed in the 5 kg range. This, too, was mainly purchased by enthusiasts and reportedly did not upend the market landscape.
But IBM felt a sense of crisis. So in 1981 it released the first PC, the "IBM PC 5150." This product was cheaper and lighter than what IBM had previously put on the market.
If that had been all, IBM would not have changed the history of the computer industry. IBM made public all of its hardware circuit diagrams and the BIOS (a program that sets data input and output methods) design rules. It also used Intel's CPU (central processing unit), the brain of the computer, and its software was based on PC DOS, which it co-developed with Microsoft (MS).
The IBM PC sold 50,000 units in eight months and 500,000 units in two years, ushering in the home computer era. PC manufacturers were able to develop and sell hardware and software products based on the design rules IBM had disclosed. Consumers could also mix IBM and other companies' products to build computers with the specifications they wanted. In this way, the IBM PC became the de facto standard for today's PCs.
However, about two decades after that success, in 2005 IBM completely exited the business by selling its PC division to China's Lenovo. After IBM disclosed its PC blueprints in 1981, similar or even better products flooded the market and won over consumers. IBM also did not demand exclusive contracts from Intel and MS, which had partnered with it to make PCs. As a result, the two companies were able to sell their products to IBM's competitors as well.