@Mark Ollig
While many of my past columns have highlighted computers built in this country, some credit for their early innovation also belongs to our neighbors to the north.
Merslau “Mers” Kutt, born in 1933 in Ontario, Canada, was a mathematics professor at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.
In the fall of 1971, he met software engineer Gordon Ramer in Toronto to explore new computer technologies.
Kutt Systems Inc. was founded in Toronto Dec. 28, 1971, and secured financial backing from local investors.
In mid-1972, the company assembled its first working microcomputer prototype using Intel’s SIM8-01 single-board development system.
The SIM8-01 was a low-cost kit for Intel’s 8008 central processing unit (CPU), released in 1972, and was widely used in early microcomputer prototyping.
That prototype evolved into the MCM/70 microcomputer late in 1972, when Kutt Systems was renamed Micro Computer Machines (MCM) and Mers Kutt became president.
In November 1972, MCM demonstrated a rack-mounted, wire-wrapped MCM/70 prototype to shareholders in Kingston.
The 1973 MCM/70 delivered interactive A Programming Language (APL) capability in a portable microcomputer with software in read-only memory (ROM), using dual cassette tape drives for its virtual memory.
It offered this capability before mainstream personal computers (PCs) were available, when businesses and organizations relied on large computer mainframes.
The MCM/70, an early portable microcomputer, used Intel’s 8008 microprocessor, operating at about 0.8 megahertz (MHz).
It operated two ROM modules: EASY (External Allocation System), which managed cassette input/output, and AVS (A Virtual System), which provided cassette-based virtual memory of about 200 kilobytes (KB).
APL programs did not use traditional files; instead, all user-defined elements, such as numbers, arrays, and functions, were kept together in what APL called a workspace.
The MCM/70 would automatically perform an orderly shutdown during a power loss, writing the users’ workspace data to cassette tape.
When its internal memory filled up, the MCM/70 could offload parts of the workspace to cassette tape, extending usable random-access memory (RAM).
The company announced Sept. 25, 1973, the fully working MCM/70 at the Royal York Hotel in downtown Toronto, with demonstrations in New York Sept. 27 and Boston Sept. 28.
Delivered to resale dealers in 1974, the MCM/70 preceded the Altair 8800 by about a year, and the Apple II and IBM PC by several years.
Ads and the press compared the MCM/70 to a typewriter, saying it was easy to carry and set on a desk to use.
Users solved tasks such as portfolio rebalancing and inventory forecasts with the MCM/70.
When dealer shipments started in late 1974, the MCM/70 usually came with two to eight kilobytes of RAM, expandable with cassette-backed virtual memory for larger workspaces.
The MCM/70 was designed for professional users in business, laboratory, and government settings, rather than the mass market.
The original MCM/70 model featured a built-in keyboard with an APL layout based on IBM 2741 terminals, a single-line gas-plasma display screen, and support for up to two cassette tape drives.
Today, APL primarily survives in specialized domains, including finance, research, and engineering, with commercial tools such as Dyalog and open-source options.
The machine, the Micro Computer Machines/70 (MCM/70), connected to printers and other peripherals through input/output (I/O) ports.
These included the MCP-132 printer/plotter (an MCM-branded Diablo Systems HyType I) and the PMR-400 punched-card reader.
It also supported the SCI-1200 communications subsystem, allowing users to send and receive data by modem.
From 1974 to 1980, connections commonly included IBM System/360 and compatible System/370 mainframes, Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) systems, and other MCM computers.
By 1979 and 1980, users also dialed early bulletin board systems (BBSs).
The MCM/70 operated on AC power, with a small internal battery for memory preservation and orderly shutdown during power outages.
Early 1970s materials described the MCM/70 as a portable microcomputer that could be carried like a small typewriter. It weighed about 20 pounds.
When production and dealer shipments began in earnest in late 1974, MCM/70 model prices ranged roughly from $4,700 to $9,800, depending on options and memory.
Today, that would amount to about $29,800 to $62,100.
The MCM/70 was marketed to businesses, laboratories, and government agencies that needed interactive, programmable data analysis
By 1976, customers included Chevron, Firestone, Mutual Life of Canada, Ontario Hydro, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and the United States Army.
MCM’s computer product line included the MCM/70 in 1974, the MCM/700 in 1975, the MCM/800 in 1976, the MCM/900 in 1978, and the MCM/1000 (MCM Power) in 1980.
The original MCM/70 used an APL keyboard; however, later MCM computer models used standard QWERTY keyboards for general office use.
In 1981, Kutt founded All Computers Inc. and developed the MCM MicroPower, a small single-user computing machine.
Lower-priced personal computers, including the Apple II and later the IBM PC, ultimately eroded MCM’s market share, and the company ceased operations in 1983.
In September 2003, The Globe and Mail newspaper in Canada featured a story that referred to Kutt as the “father of the personal computer (PC).”
In 2019, Kutt filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas involving his US Patent 5,450,574 and US Patent 5,506,981.
He sued Apple Inc. and more than 40 other companies for $350 billion in damages Sept. 20, 2019.
The district court dismissed the case with prejudice on March 23, 2020.
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit confirmed the lower court’s dismissal Nov. 9, 2022.
No damages were awarded.
My latest research shows that Merslau “Mers” Kutt is still living.
A photo of a working MCM/70 with the APL keyboard at the York University Computer Museum exhibit can be seen here: https://bit.ly/3IL42vP.
