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Seagate ST506 hard disk drive - Alan Shugart & Finis Conner
The ST506 was the first hard disk drive for personal computers, holding 5MB and becoming the standard for the IBM PC and its successors. -
IBM Model 5150
The IBM PC was much faster at processing information than other computers before and during its time, and for a significantly smaller price. It also had an open architecture, allowing the creation of a large market for third party boards and applications to be added. -
MS-DOS - Tim Paterson
The MS-DOS was simple and efficient for its time, and compatible with a wide range of software. It was initially designed to run on the IBM PC, soon becoming the standard for IBM-compatible computers for years to come. -
Compact disc - Sony & Phillips
The compact disc was initially designed to store and play digital audio, but later was adapted to store immense amounts of general data. A CD-ROM could hold approximately 260,000 pages of text, equivalent to over 1,500 floppy disks. -
Microsoft Word - Charles Simonyi & Richard Brodie
Word let users create, save and print text documents. It featured graphics video mode and mouse support in a WYSIWYG interface. Though its first few versions were not very successful, it was still the birth of an invention that had yet to become widespread through the market.