Why Computers are Computers. The SWAC and the PC, Review

apparent that the MITI subsidies of nearly 90 billion yen plus another 90 billion yen or more from the industry had a substantial impact on computer research, development, and product planning. Therefore, in this respect, it would be appropriate to refer to this stage as the MITI dependent stage. In 1982 MITI started its own projects: " Super-computer " and " Fifth Generation Computer " , while it continued giving subsidies to the manufacturers on a smaller scale until 1983. However, these projects and subsidies were not as significant as the subsidies previously given as far as its impact on the Japanese computer industry went. On the other hand, as MITI hoped when planning the third stage subsidies, the Japanese computer manufacturers have now become competitive in the international marketplace. In 1978 they started exporting mainframe computers even to the US. Having struggled through the above three stages 20 years since launching their business, the Japanese computer manufacturers can now stand on their own feet. However, looking toward the future, I do not think their prosperity will continue without hazards. In my opinion, the Japanese computer industry is now at one of its most important turning points. Microprocessor based personal computers have become more and more popular, and in the U.S. their sales value is expected to exceed that of the mainframes in 1986. Grosch's Law, which used to spell out the economies of scale, namely that the larger the computer, the better its performance per unit of cost, is no longer applicable with the advent of mass-produced microprocessors and semiconductor memory chips. Trends in computer usage at large corporations are now toward distributed processing with the use of many personal computers. I do not mean that the need for mainframes will disappear. Demands for high-end machines with more speed and more performance will continue. However, except for some high-end machines, mainframe computers will not be competitive against microprocessor based computers which will come up from the bottom toward the middle and upper performance range. Personal computers now mostly use 16 bit microprocessors. The advent of 32 bit microprocessors is imminent, and they will play more important role in business applications, enabling the use of a powerful network of personal computers connected by a LAN together with microprocessor based print and file servers. The problem is that all the operating systems as well as most of the popular package programs …