On this day in 1981, Adam Osborne introduced Version 1 of his eponymous line of portable computers to a curious and hopeful audience. Version 1 soon became the first commercially successful computer that could be easily carried from place to place. The computer weighed almost 25 pounds and came with a five-inch screen, an 8-bit processor and 64 kilobytes of memory, no battery - it plugged into a wall socket - and hefty bundle of software, and a price tag of over $5000 in today's economy. It was advertised as a perfect fit under your airplane seat.
There was plenty of competition already in development when the Osborne 1 went on the market. It was soon surpassed by the IBM PC (introduced in August 1981), the Kaypro II (August 1982) , and the Compaq Portable (first delivered in early 1983). Regardless, today we remember it as the first commercial success in what has become a huge world-wide industry.
Here's how it was in the olden days
Wordstar! SBASIC2! dBASE2! SuperCalc! I wonder what Adam Osborne (1939-2003) would say today?
Sources
Photos and Illustrations:
dunfield.classiccmp.org
Text:
osborne I, Wikipedia.org
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