. INDEX Wii Xbox360 PS3 PC Gaming PSP Phone Games LINKS Improve Your Gameplay Create Your Own Games Repair Your Xbox360 Become A Games Tester Legal File Sharing Download Phone Games Download PC Games Download PSP Games Download PS3 Games Download Xbox360 Games Download Wii Games General Downloads . . . It is difficult to define the start of the PC. Computers have been around for years, and desk top models developed long before the term "PC" came into being. Originally the term "PC" was simply short for "Personal Computer", but it was used by IBM (at the time the main computer company with a virtual monopoly). The advantage they had was that having been the first major computer manufacturer they had become one of the first small computer manufacturers, so most software was designed to run on their computers, and as their computer's internal workings were copyright, this meant that no other company could produce computers that ran the majority of software. As a result most people bought IBM machines simply because they needed that software. And the more people who purchased IBM machines the greater the monopoly, so the harder it was for other companies to sell their machines. Think of IBM as the Microsoft of their day. Their big mistake is that they did not own copyright on the operating system. They did not think that they had to do this. After all they had a patent on the hardware, so no one could copy that legally could they? To save time and money they purchased the right to use a operating system called MSdos created by the Seattle Computer Company, and later purchased outright by some guy called Bill Gates. But IBM only purchased "the right to use", not full copyright, this Bill Gates guy was free to sell the same right to any other company who wanted to pay him for it. Amongst the plethora of small computer companies trying desperately to sell their own computers was an adventurous company called Commodore. They contacted that nice Mr Gates and gave him a pile of money to use his OS too. But they still could not legally copy the patented IBM hardware. So they set a team of electronic engineers to study the IBM machine, and "reverse engineer" it (i.e. work backwards from the finished machine and work out the codes and commands that drove their computers). Once they had this information they employed a totally separate group of electronic engineers. This group were specifically chosen from the (small number) of electronic engineers who had NEVER used an IBM machine and could honestly swear in court to that fact. They then handed them the codes that the first lot had uncovered and told them to create a new computer that used these codes. Since it is not illegal to reverse engineer equipment, Commodore had done nothing actionable. And because the electronic engineers who actually created the new Commodore computer had not been involved in the reverse engineering operation, and had not even ever used an IBM computer they could not be accused of copying IBM. So eventually Commodore was able to compete with IBM and produce what were then called "PC compatible machines" Ironically Commodore failed to secure their own patents tightly enough to prevent other companies joining in the free for all, and eventually almost everyone was making "PC Compatible" machines. Eventually the "compatible" part of the name was dropped, and today Apple are the only major computer company producing non-PC computers. Anyone new in to computers will probably be wondering why they have never heard of Commodore if they started the rush to the old IBM platform. Well Commodore was probably the most innovative company in the industry. After breaking IBM's monopoly, Commodore went on to dominate the home games machine market. As well as being the number 1 in the old 8 bit games computer arena they were the first to produce a 16 bit home machine (16 bit machines started the evolution from computers that played games to pure games consoles). They also produced the first ever GUI, which may not mean much to most people, but it was a revolutionary idea at the time, the idea was stolen by Microsoft and you will know their version of Commodore's GUI as "Windows"!! So Commodore were the first non IBM company to manufacture PCs, were the first big player in the games computer market, were first into what would become the games console market, and created "Windows" years before Microsoft stole the idea (Apple were developing a similar idea at the time, and when they saw Commodore's GUI they assumed they were too late). They should be as big as Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, and Dell all rolled into one. So why the hell have so many people never heard of Commodore? Two reasons, firstly they had the worst publicity department in the industry. They could invent the most amazing "must have" product, and with months of expensive advertising their publicity department could convince the public that they did not want the product. And secondly, beautifully ironically, they too managed to make IBM's mistake of not locking down intellectual copyright. Soon there were tons of other companies on the scene, all doing what Commodore did first. But most of these other companies had better advertising departments, and their inferior product stole Commodore's customers. As a result Commodore went bankrupt in the late 1990's, and despite a couple of rescue attempts the company finally disappeared forever. But their legacy, the PC, lives on. If you own a PC and are fed up of paying too much for the games, there is a site on the Internet where you can legally download PC games. To pay the site a visit Click Here. Or try this site Click Here. .