Editing Wintel (section)

== IBM ==
{{main|Influence of the IBM PC on the personal computer market}}
In 1981, [[IBM]] entered the microcomputer market. The IBM PC was created by a small subdivision of the firm. It was unusual for an IBM product because it was largely sourced from outside component suppliers and was intended to run third-party operating systems and software. IBM published the technical specifications and schematics of the PC, which allowed third-party companies to produce compatible hardware, the so-called [[open architecture]]. The IBM PC became one of the most successful computers of all time. 

The key feature of the IBM PC was that it had IBM's enormous public respect behind it. It was an accident of history{{Editorializing|date=August 2024}} that the IBM PC happened to have an Intel CPU (instead of the technically superior<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.redhill.net.au/c/c-1.html|title=The Red Hill CPU Guide: in the beginning|website=www.redhill.net.au}}</ref> [[Motorola 68000]] that had been tipped for it, or an IBM in-house design), and that it shipped with [[IBM PC DOS]] (a licensed version of Microsoft's [[MS-DOS]]) rather than the [[CP/M-86]] operating system, but these accidents were to have enormous significance in later years.

Because the IBM PC was an IBM product with the IBM badge, personal computers became respectable. It became easier for a business to justify buying a microcomputer than it had been even a year or two before, and easiest of all to justify buying the [[IBM Personal Computer]].{{fact|date=October 2015}} Since the PC architecture was well documented in IBM's manuals, and PC DOS was designed to be similar to the earlier CP/M operating system, the PC soon had thousands of different third-party add-in cards and software packages available. This made the PC the preferred option for many, since the PC supported the hardware and software they needed.