Tag Archives: Compuserve

MobileViews Podcast 168: With Don Watkins. Observing the IBM PC’s 35th anniversary


Source: Wikipedia

Quick news items

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The IBM PC turns 35 on August 12

Don Watkins joins Jon Westfall and me (Todd Ogasawara) in this podcast to discuss the IBM PC’s 35 anniversary on August 12, 2016. Don founded the IBM Users Network and other popular online forums on CompuServe. These were among the first online communities in the world.

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

MobileViews Podcast 155: A look back at the IBM PC Users Network on Compuserve with its founder Don Watkins

Jon Westfall and I (Todd Ogasawara) welcome special guest Don Watkins in this podcast.

  1. 2016 is a big anniversary year for tech.
    Apple turns 40 on April 1 – incorporated on Jan. 3, 1977 for purists
    The IBM PC turns 35 in August. Ref: IBM Archives: The birth of the IBM PC
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  4. Don Watkins (PCNet-Online.com) founded the IBM Users Network on Compuserve in 1982, a year after the IBM PC launched. In the years before the Internet became available to regular people (vs. those on the ARPANET or MILNET), Compuserve was one of the few online services with a national reach via mostly localized dial-up modem banks and mainframe backend (vs. BBS running on an Apple II or CP/M based microcomputer). We discuss the early years of the IBM PC era, his role in kickstarting large online communities, and other topics in this podcast. You can see an interview with Don on Computer Chronicles from January 9, 1987 at the 11 min. 30 sec. mark of this YouTube video.