Cause and Effect Analysis in the Example of IBM and Apple Computers Many modern businessmen and computer industry analysts view the 1976 turn down of Apple Computers offer by IBM as the most irrational thing that the management of IBM could ever do. The management board, and especially the direct supervisor of Stephen Gary Wozniak, who together with his partner Steven Paul Jobs invented Apple 1, the first of the Apple computers now known as Macintosh, did not realize the potential of the employees proposal and idea. The situation that occurred almost 30 years ago is of a particular interest to us, because basing my reasoning on the example of Apple I will examine the interesting concept of cause and effect which is very often found in the history of humankind development and often marks the turning point of it. When I thought about writing this paper I decided to get familiar with the history of Apple, for there are indeed many interesting facts about the company and the founders of it themselves. First of all, I admire Stephen Wozniak and Steve Jobs, who upon the turn down of their offer did not fall into despair but instead found additional strengths within to input all of their will and ideas into the development of their creation. It is because of this turn down these two people decided to quit their jobs, sold their belongings, and it all was done for the sake of creating the first 50 pieces of Apple 1, which were later sold for 600 dollars per computer. The creators realized the potential of their invention very quickly.
The Essay on Apple Computers
Apple Computers was founded on April Fools Day in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. They were two college dropouts who started selling computers through Jobs family garage. Between the two Wozniak was the technical man and Jobs had the vision, so together they created their first computer named Apple I. Jobs mission for Apple was to provide an easy-to-use computer to almost everyone. Two years ...
They understood that the concept is quite new in the market and decided to go public in 1980. At this time the stock markets recorded a record growth of shares at 1700%. This step allowed the company to raised the funds for the future development of the company. The overwhelming success of Apple Computers gave birth to the development of the computer industry in a whole. The former potential business partner International Business Machines decided to introduce the rival computer called IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC).
Up to this date the two models, which are now far away in technological development from their predecessors, compete in the sphere of high technology products.
The appearance of the IBM PC triggered the new approach in overall computer engineering. Released January 24, 1984 Apple Macintosh featured a revolutionary Graphics User Interface, compared to the DOS type of interaction with the computer, GUI allowed the user to be absolutely unfamiliar with the principles of computer operations and programming and still freely operate the PC. However the history of GUI is a bit deeper than seems at the first sight. After the rejection of Apple by IBM, the company has signed the agreement with Xerox Company, which at that time was heavily experimenting with the technologies that later lead to the creation of GUI. Following the introduction of the GUI Apple Computers suffers from series of internal management conflicts. First, Steve Wozniak leaves the company, later the appointed director of Apple John Sculley, former president of Pepsi Co, pushes Steve Jobs out of the company and makes a decision that later costs the company the first place in the market. Mr. Sculley allows Microsoft to copy some parts of the Apples GUI for the future development, in their turn Microsoft promises to develop software for Macintosh computers. As the result of this deal the world famous Microsoft Windows appears. Looking deeply into this operating system, we can discover that Windows is nothing more than just a copy of the main Macintosh operating systems basic principles with only difference being in the design of its appearance.
Caused by the failure of the top management to keep the company the number one in the market Apple Computers decides to form an alliance with its fiercest competitor IBM in the field of new architecture processor development. The Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) architecture allows the processor to be given fewer amounts of instructions for the performance of some particular task or process. The new architecture invented was so attractive to the clients that it gave and additional burst to the whole entertainment industry. The world famous partnership of Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, the producer of the breakthrough Toy Story, decided to use the RISC-based processor to create this masterpiece. In the 1995, when Toy Story hit the movie theatres around the globe, the market opens for millions of Macintosh workstations. Besides, many new companies, which produce Mac clones, emerge. The several next years will mark the history of computer technologies forever. In 1996 Apple Computers buys NeXT, the software development company founded by Steve Jobs after his resignation from the company.
The Term Paper on Apple Computer Inc part 1
... and education markets and many other digital devices. Apple Computer invests a lot of money into software development. In June 2004, the Company previewed Mac ... segment of the personal computer market, Apple Computer Inc and its Macintosh remains the example of quality and elegance2. The computer world market has been structured in ...
Later that year Jobs becomes a CEO of Apple Macintosh and the company records first profits after several years of loss. As the result of the new companys policy of constant research and development market is introduced to the iMac and iBook, the first comers and still leaders of palm tools. In 1999 the new processor developed by Apple is released. Disney and Pixar once again use G4 processor, the most powerful of those times, to create another great animation work Toy Story 2. These years were like a second birth for the company, which began to loose its market share. Nowadays Apple is known for their innovative approach to cut-edge technologies.
The company is striving to reclaim the share of the market it lost during the many years of fierce competition. The number of the users is growing slowly but steadily. What is the most interesting of that is that the current users of Mac are professional users after whom the trends of technology will follow. At the end I would like to stress out the following: even the worst cause can lead to great effects. The story of Apple Computers proves it. Bibliography Apple Computer History Weblog: Who killed Apple computer The Apple History.Com Biblio Apple Developers Tools August 2003 update Apple PowerMac GS SETI@home: Macintosh Client Software The Mac Observer More Follow-Up .
The Essay on Computer user freedom
1) Users have the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. The freedoms to run the program as you wish, for any purpose. The freedoms to study how the program works and change it so it does your computing as you wish. Access to the source code is a precondition for this. The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor. ...
