PC giant finds place in history
2007-05-11 08:35
Washington - Global technology giant Dell's acumen for selling low-priced personal computers has earned it a place in Washington's Smithsonian National Museum of American History, the company and museum announced on Thursday.
Michael Dell, who founded the world's number two computer seller 22 years ago with a paltry $1 000 in his pocket, donated to the premier US history museum a collection of computer-related materials that "provide insight into Dell's career as entrepreneur and business leader and Dell Inc, as a global company", according to a statement.
The items include a PC's Limited computer from 1985 - when Dell began assembling his own computers under that name - and a top-notch 2005 Dell OptiPlex GX520 produced at the Dell plant in North Carolina.
"Dell Inc is an outstanding example of a modern American company succeeding in a global marketplace," said museum director Brent Glass.
David Allison, who oversees the museum's information technology section - which already holds iconic times like an Altair computer, one of the first personal computers from the 1970s - upon which Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Paul Allen wrote their first commercial program - and first-generation IBM and Apple PCs.
To obtain the long-obsolete PC's Limited machine, Dell had to find a family in North Carolina that still had one - and trade it for a brand new Dell model, which is thousands of times more powerful.
"We are proud that Dell is becoming part of the Smithsonian and part of our country's history," said Dell.