This section is about companies that were primarily started as computer makers.
For companies that make integrated circuits, see also: Section "Semiconductor company".
Video 1. The Mapple Store and Steve Mobs from The Simpsons. Source.
Of course, this only made sense when Apple was more of an underdog to IBM, and Ciro Santilli greatly admires their defiance of the norm.
As of 2020 however, Apple is kind of on the top of the mobile world, and Think different simply makes no sense anymore, notably because it relies on closed source offline software used by millions.
This is a trap every company that prides itself on it's "alternative culture" sets for itself. If they succeed, they could become the norm.
Figure 2. 1976 Think different. 2011 Think mainstream. Cropped from wallpapersafari.com/w/RqYUEj.
Video 1. 1984 Macintosh advertisement by Apple (1984) Source. This ad suggests that Apple was the new thinker that would destroy IBM, as Steve Jobs said it himself when introducing the ad: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlQvMp5rB6g. And then Apple became IBM in the 2000's starting with the launch of the iPod and then leading up to the iPhone.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.
Video 1. Source.
Was a direct tech predecessor to the iPhone.
Nice looking and expensive operating system by Apple. Ciro Santilli believes that:
  • if you want to be ripped off, just use Microsoft Windows which has more software available
  • or if you want to attain Enlightenment, just use Linux, which is free and open source
The story of how OS X was ported to x86 from PowerPC with large initial work up to boot by a single man in the year 2000, John Kullmann, is really worth reading: www.quora.com/Apple-company/How-does-Apple-keep-secrets-so-well/answer/Kim-Scheinberg on Quora, see also:
Video 1. The Sad Story of Apple's Third Co-Founder by ColdFusion (2022) Source.
Co-founder of Apple.
Is Jobs evil? Is he interesting? Undoubtedly.
Good quotes:
Evil deeds:
This idea also comes up in other sources of course.
Video 1. Margin Call (2011) bridge scene. Source.
TODO clear attribution source:
Some people say, "Give the customers what they want." But that's not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they're going to want before they do. I think Henry Ford once said, "If I'd asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, 'A faster horse!'" People don't know what they want until you show it to them. That's why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page.
Ciro Santilli likes Magic: The Gathering and he was pleased when he learned that Steve Wozniak does too, and has an expensive collection: redsunsoft.com/2019/03/how-a-post-to-play-magictg-turned-into-an-afternoon-with-the-woz/
Some have actually been preserved: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_Box_in_museum.jpg
The japanese name literally means:
  • 富士 fushi, from Mount Fuji, which itself has unknown origin
  • 通 tong: telecommunications
They died so completely, Googling "ICL" now has higher hits such as Imperial College London.
Video 1. Why the UK's IBM Failed by Asianometry (2022) Source. Main lesson perhaps: don't put national money to fight already established markets. You have to fight for what is coming up next. E.g. that is part of the reason for TSMC's success.
As of the 2020's, a slumbering giant.
But the pre-Internet impact of IBM was insane! Including notably:
This is a family of computers. It was a big success. It appears that this was a big unification project of previous architectures. And it also gave software portability guarantees with future systems, since writing software was starting to become as expensive as the hardware itself.
This was the first major commercial computer hit. Stlil vacuum tube-based.
Video 1. Learning how to program on the IBM 650 Donald Knuth interview by Web of Stories (2006) Source. It was decimal!
Video 1. The IBM 1401 compiles and runs Fortran II by CuriousMarc (2018) Source.