Proprietary hardware is
computer hardware
Computer hardware includes the physical parts of a computer, such as the central processing unit (CPU), random-access memory (RAM), motherboard, computer data storage, graphics card, sound card, and computer case. It includes external devices ...
whose
interface is controlled by the
proprietor, often under
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...
or
trade-secret protection.
Historically, most early computer hardware was designed as proprietary until the 1980s, when
IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the List of IBM Personal Computer models, IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible ''de facto'' standard. Released on ...
changed this paradigm. Earlier, in the 1970s, many vendors tried to challenge IBM's monopoly in the
mainframe computer
A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise ...
market by
reverse engineering
Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompl ...
and producing hardware components electrically compatible with expensive equipment and (usually) able to run the same software. Those vendors were nicknamed ''
plug compatible manufacturers'' (PCMs).
See also
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Micro Channel architecture
Micro Channel architecture, or the Micro Channel bus, is a proprietary hardware, proprietary 16-bit computing, 16- or 32-bit computing, 32-bit parallel communication, parallel computer bus (computing), bus publicly introduced by IBM in 1987 w ...
, a commonly cited historical example of proprietary hardware
*
Vendor lock-in
In economics, vendor lock-in, also known as proprietary lock-in or customer lockin, makes a customer dependent on a vendor for products, unable to use another vendor without substantial switching costs.
The use of open standards and alternati ...
*
Proprietary device drivers
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Proprietary firmware
*
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software, software that grants its creator, publisher, or other rightsholder or rightsholder partner a legal monopoly by modern copyright and intellectual property law to exclude the recipient from freely sharing t ...
References
Computer peripherals
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