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=== History ===
=== The Mid-1960s to Early 1980s ===
The first computers were large, expensive, complex and proprietary. The move towards commodity computing began when [[Digital Equipment Corporation|DEC]] introduced the [[PDP-8]] in 1965. This was a computer that was relatively small and inexpensive enough that a department could purchase one without convening a meeting of the board of directors. The entire [[minicomputer]] industry sprang up to supply the demand for 'small' computers like the PDP-8. Unfortunately, each of the many different brands of minicomputers had to stand on their own because there was no software and very little hardware compatibility between them.
When the first general purpose [[microprocessor]] was introduced in 1974 it immediately began chipping away at the low end of the computer market, replacing [[embedded system|embedded minicomputers]] in many industrial devices.
This process accelerated in 1977 with the introduction of the first commodity - like microcomputer, the [[Apple II]]. With the development of the [[Visicalc]] application in 1979, microcomputers broke out of the factory and began entering office suites in large quantities, but still through the back door.
== 1980s to Mid-1990s ==
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