William Lowe speaks to students about the education system and progresses in technology. (Neal Henry / The Clarion Call)
Clarion University welcomed William C. Lowe, best known as the “Father of the Personal Computer,” Tuesday, April 20 at 3:30P.M. in Still Hall’s Carter Auditorium. Lowe is a former executive of Moore Corporation, New England Business Services, Gulfstream Aerospace, Xerox Corporation and IBM.
Lowe has served as CEO of two Fortune 1000 companies with 25 plus years experience in an accomplished career where he was known for strategic work, for delivering and sustaining revenue and profit gains with highly competitive U.S. retail market.
He has managed budgets in excess of $10 billion in development and manufacturing with worldwide plant operations. Lowe launched the IBM Personal Computer and is best known as the “Father of the Personal Computer” for leading the team that developed IBM’s PC.
In 1991, he received a major global award for the greatest Technology Product Innovation in the United States along with Bill Gates.
Lowe has recently worked as a strategic advisor for entrepreneurial companies including a Chicago based company that went public in 1999.
Lowe has traveled extensively throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America in order to oversee and review global operations with several major companies.
He has overseen global manufacturing and plant operations including large scale research, planning, production, manufacturing, outsourcing, supplier and distribution efficiencies and delivery with IBM, Fuji Xerox, Rank Xerox and Gulfstream Aerospace.
He went to work for IBM in 1962 as a product test engineer in Endicott, N.Y. In 1975, he became director of development and manufacturing operations for IBM’s GSD (General Systems Division) in Atlanta.
It was in his role as systems manager of entry-level systems for GSD in Boca Raton, Fla., that Lowe had the greatest influence.
In 1980, IBM was ready to enter the personal computing market dominated by Apple, Commodore and Atari, and set a one-year deadline.
Neal Henry / The Clarion Call
Lowe convinced the company that in order to meet the deadline it would have to depart from its customary style of building business machines with proprietary parts.
He also led the industry in manufacturing computers with off-the-shelf parts, a move that benefited consumers by lowering the cost of computer purchases and repairs, but at the same time made it easy for IBM’s competitors to make PCs.
The team’s approach of using open architecture not only ensured the PC was delivered on schedule, but also changed the manufacturing practices of the industry. Buying off-the-shelf parts was a decision that helped to make giants of Intel, Microsoft and other providers of computer components and software.
In 2009, Lowe published a book with Cary Sherburne, a well-known author, consultant, and journalist titled “No Nonsense: Practical Strategies for Success.” The book talks about the importance of innovation. He said that the problem with some big companies is that they continue to use the methods that got them to the top even if those methods are not working anymore.
He explained that his passion is to solve the education crisis in America. He said it seems like students are just being taught to pass tests. The education system is behind in time and should be using the new technology to its advantage. Students get bored with teachers lecturing and some can’t handle it and drop out of school. Education would be much more effective using technology.
Lowe mentioned some statistics from a YouTube video titled ‘Did You Know.’ China will soon become the No. 1 English speaking country in the world. The 25 percent of India’s population with the highest IQ’s is greater than the total population of the U.S. The top 10 in-demand jobs in 2010 didn’t even exist in 2004. Schools are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist. 1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met online. There are 31 billion searches on Google every month. In 2006 that number was 2.7 billion. It is estimated that a week’s worth of the New York Times contains more information than a person was likely to come across in a lifetime in the 18th century.
Lowe said he had no idea that the PC was going to be such a success. His innovation was a stepping stone for the technology today and the technology of tomorrow. The facts above prove how much of an impact technology has on everyone’s lives.
Basically every college student owns their own laptop. It is like a necessity and without it that student feels lost. It is the same with a person’s cell phone. It is a wonder how anyone every functioned without the technology of today.
Lowe emphasized the importance of innovation and he wants to see a change in the education system because what they are doing now is apparently not working because there are still plenty of kids dropping out of high school every day. Without innovation there is no way to move forward.
