"I dreamed of a machine able to learn and then quietly execute, a machine that allows us to store instructions and data, but whose instructions were simple and intuitive; a machine that could be used by everyone, not just a handful of specialists. For this to be possible it had to be affordable, above all, and be about the same size as the other office products people had grown accustomed to using." 

The words were spoken by Pier Giorgio Perotto, the lead engineer on the Olivetti team that built the Programma 101, the world's first personal computer. Years before Steve Jobs and Bill Gates struck gold, the Italian typewriter manufacturer paved the way for the PC revolution, launching the Programma on October 14th, 1965 in New York City.