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Not Only Microsoft: The Maturing of the Personal Computer Software Industry, 1982–1995

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2011

Martin Campbell-Kelly
Martin Campbell-Kelly
Affiliation:
MARTIN CAMPBELL-KELLY is a reader in computer science at theUniversity of Warwick, England.
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Abstract

In the thirteen years following the introduction of IBM's first personal computer in 1982, Microsoft rose from being a small concern to become the colossus of the PC software industry. However, Microsoft was not the only software company to profit from the PC-software boom: firms like AutoDesk, Lotus Development, WordPerfect Corp., Ashton-Tate, Novell, Borland, Adobe Systems, Aldus, Symantec, and the Santa Cruz Operation all had their time in the sun. Whereas some of these firms lost their markets to Microsoft or stumbled through strategic errors, others remained hugely successful, and their relative obscurity is largely due to the contemporary obsession with Microsoft and its billionaire founder.

Type
Articles
Information
Business History Review , Volume 75 , Special Issue 1: Special Issue: Computers and Communications Networks , Spring 2001 , pp. 103 - 145
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 2001

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References

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