CP/M This was my first exposure to microcomputers (Wow!  64k!) and, though the IBM PC sported 640k, it was two years before my personal programming started feeling cramped.  After seeing the Print Screen key on the IBM PC, I enhanced this operating system to give it a Print Screen function — Zilog80A Assembly was fun. 

MS-DOS It was really the floppy disks that I got tired of — rather than actually running out of real memory.  Thus, my upgrade to an IBM XT-compatible with a 20meg hard drive was like sheer heaven to me.  Oh, and that 8mHz Turbo button seemed like pure genius.

IBM OS/2 &MS Windows 3.1 I outgrew that 20meg hard drive long before I finally bit the bullet and bought an IBM AT-compatible computer.  I went for a full tower this time because I had also outgrown the expansion slots.  I was also tired of command-line prompts (CP/M was the same way) and DOS-SHELL, but I wasn't overly impressed with "Windows" either.  OS/2 was getting a lot of fanfare, at the time, so I went with a 33mHz (turbo), 16meg real, and 128meg storage system (later, I had to add a second 320meg drive).  Wow!  Who could want more?

MS Windows'95 & '98 Before I retired, I ran on a 450mHz, 192meg real, and 11gig storage system which is peer-to-peer networked with two other personal computers — and we're talking about my home here! 

Surprisingly, perhaps, I have no (what I call) "formal" experience in the microcomputer world.  However, I bought my first microcomputer in 1982 — a Zenith/Heathkit Z90 — after IBM unveiled the "PC" (or, Personal Computer) to the world and, since then, I've broadened my own horizons by exploring programming on the personal level, i.e., at home and for myself.  From there, I've even sold and installed a custom-built application at a client site.  The table below will give you a glimpse into where my explorations have taken me.

Hint:  Don't forget what a "PC" is — a personal computer.  Don't try to make it into a corporate-wide computing solution unless you (#1) get all the facts, (#2) know exactly what the company needs, (#3) know exactly where the company is going, and (#4) have absolutely no doubts that the "PC" will be able to take the company there with the minimum amount of trouble as compared to all other possible solutions.  Nine times out of ten, the PC will not be the corporate-wide answer that many people make it out to be; however, this does not mean that the entire corporation will not benefit from a "PC on every desk" scenario.  It will just not be the total computing solution for the corporation.