Compaq

Compaq Computer Corporation is an American personal computer company founded in 1982, and now a brand name of Hewlett-Packard. more...

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The company was formed by Rod Canion, Jim Harris and Bill Murto — former Texas Instruments senior managers. The name "COMPAQ" was derived from "Compatibility and Quality", as at its formation Compaq produced some of the first IBM PC compatible computers.

Once the largest supplier of computing systems in the world it existed as an independent corporation until 2002, when it merged with Hewlett-Packard.

History

1980s

Compaq was founded in February 1982 by Rod Canion, Jim Harris and Bill Murto, three senior managers from semiconductor manufacturer Texas Instruments. Each invested $1,000 to form the company. Their first venture capital came from Ben Rosen and Sevin-Rosen partners. It is often told that the architecture of the original Compaq PC was first sketched out on a placemat by the founders while dining in the Houston restaurant, House of Pies.

In its early years Compaq was in many respects what IBM's PC Group should have been, and indeed, two of Compaq's key marketing executives, Jim D'Arezzo and Sparky Sparks, had moved from there.

Compaq Portable

In November 1982 Compaq announced their first product, the Compaq Portable, a portable IBM PC compatible personal computer. It was released in March 1983 at $2995, considerably more affordable than competitors at the time. The Compaq Portable was one of the progenitors of today's laptop. It was the second IBM PC compatible, being capable of running all software that would run on an IBM PC. It was a commercial success, selling 53,000 units in its first year. The Compaq Portable was the first in the range of the Compaq Portable series. Compaq was able to market a legal IBM clone because IBM mostly used "off the shelf" parts for their PC. Furthermore, Microsoft had kept the right to license the operating system to other computer manufacturers. The only part which had to be duplicated was the BIOS, which Compaq did legally by using clean room reverse engineering for $1 million. Numerous other companies soon followed their lead.

Deskpro 286

In 1985, Compaq released the Compaq Deskpro 286, a 16-bit desktop computer using an Intel 80286 microprocessor running at 6 MHz and capable of supporting up to 7 MB of RAM. It cost $2000 for the 40-MB hard disk model. It was considerably faster than an IBM PC and was, like the Compaq Portable, also capable of running IBM software. This was the first of the Compaq Deskpro line of computers.

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