MCM Executive
Dublin Core
Title
MCM Executive
Subject
computer hardware: microcomputer
Description
Historical context (by Z. Stachniak)
In April, 1972, Intel Corp. of Santa Clara, California, announced its first 8-bit microprocessor — the 8008. In just a few months, the prototypes of the first general purpose computers powered by the 8008 chip were already working on site at the French company Réalisations et Études Électroniques located in the suburbs of Paris and at Micro Computer Machines (MCM) with headquarters situated on the outskirts of Toronto. These firms fully recognized, articulated, and acted upon the immense potential of the budding microprocessor technology for the development of a new generation of cost effective computing systems. However, it was MCM which built the first microprocessor-based computer designed specifically for personal use — the MCM/70, the first PC.
Before MCM officially announced its PC in September 1973, the company produced and demonstrated several prototypes. In the summer of 1973, MCM assembled in record short time a unique prototype of the MCM/70 for demonstration at the APL Congress that was to take place in August at the Technical University of Denmark in Lyngby, north of Copenhagen, Denmark. MCM decided to pack the current MCM/70 prototype's hardware, including a keyboard, a one-line plasma display (Burroughs SelfScan), and a single cassette drive, into an attache case and to operate all of it on batteries exclusively. The company expected considerable marketing gains from the planned ground-breaking presentation of a never-seen-before luggable, battery operated, general-purpose computer which they named the Executive.
The gamble payed off. On August 23, the day after the Executive's demonstration, the Danish daily Politiken published a front-page article about a sensational computer from Canada. The article included two photographs depicting MCM employee Ted Edwards operating the Executive on the doorstep of the auditorium where the conference took place.
For a brief time, MCM contemplated manufacturing the Executive and made announcements to that effect in the press. In October 1973, the computer was shown during the National Computer Show and Conference in Toronto but, in the end, the company quietly abandoned the Executive concept due to technical and financial difficulties.
The official announcement of the MCM/70 came on September 25, 1973, in Toronto. Its manufacturing commenced in mid 1974.
The photographs below depict the Executive at the time of its arrival at York University Computer Museum and of Ted Edwards demonstrating the Executive during the APL Congress in Copenhagen — one of the photographs published by Politiken on August 23, 1973.
Recommended readings:
In April, 1972, Intel Corp. of Santa Clara, California, announced its first 8-bit microprocessor — the 8008. In just a few months, the prototypes of the first general purpose computers powered by the 8008 chip were already working on site at the French company Réalisations et Études Électroniques located in the suburbs of Paris and at Micro Computer Machines (MCM) with headquarters situated on the outskirts of Toronto. These firms fully recognized, articulated, and acted upon the immense potential of the budding microprocessor technology for the development of a new generation of cost effective computing systems. However, it was MCM which built the first microprocessor-based computer designed specifically for personal use — the MCM/70, the first PC.
Before MCM officially announced its PC in September 1973, the company produced and demonstrated several prototypes. In the summer of 1973, MCM assembled in record short time a unique prototype of the MCM/70 for demonstration at the APL Congress that was to take place in August at the Technical University of Denmark in Lyngby, north of Copenhagen, Denmark. MCM decided to pack the current MCM/70 prototype's hardware, including a keyboard, a one-line plasma display (Burroughs SelfScan), and a single cassette drive, into an attache case and to operate all of it on batteries exclusively. The company expected considerable marketing gains from the planned ground-breaking presentation of a never-seen-before luggable, battery operated, general-purpose computer which they named the Executive.
The gamble payed off. On August 23, the day after the Executive's demonstration, the Danish daily Politiken published a front-page article about a sensational computer from Canada. The article included two photographs depicting MCM employee Ted Edwards operating the Executive on the doorstep of the auditorium where the conference took place.
For a brief time, MCM contemplated manufacturing the Executive and made announcements to that effect in the press. In October 1973, the computer was shown during the National Computer Show and Conference in Toronto but, in the end, the company quietly abandoned the Executive concept due to technical and financial difficulties.
The official announcement of the MCM/70 came on September 25, 1973, in Toronto. Its manufacturing commenced in mid 1974.
The photographs below depict the Executive at the time of its arrival at York University Computer Museum and of Ted Edwards demonstrating the Executive during the APL Congress in Copenhagen — one of the photographs published by Politiken on August 23, 1973.
Recommended readings:
- Stachniak, Z. Inventing the PC: the MCM/70 Story , McGill-Queen's University Press (2011).
- Stachniak, Z. Learning from Prototypes, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 42, no. 2 (2020), pp. 63-71.
Creator
Micro Computer Machines
Date
early 1970s
Relation
IBM
Format
digital image, format jpeg, 732x431 pixels
Coverage
Canada, Denmark, 1973
Contribution Form
Online Submission
No
Files
Collection
Citation
Micro Computer Machines, “MCM Executive,” York University Computer Museum Canada, accessed April 28, 2024, https://museum.eecs.yorku.ca/items/show/57.