Paraphrasing (15th paragraph)

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The history of the personal computer industry is a good illustration of this relationship. In the early 1 980s IBM adopted a bold strategy for the design and production of this new product. It outsourced two key components — the operating system and the central processing unit — to Microsoft and Intel respectively. This "supply chain" decision was made at a time when most discounted the potential of the personal computer to overtake the mainframe as the dominant product.

The main idea of the paragraph

The history of the personal computer industry is a good illustrator of the unpredictability of the effect of IT revolution on operational models. When IBM made the “supply chain” decision – focusing on design and production of personal computers while outsourcing the operating system and the central processing unit, most discounted the potential of the personal computer to replace the mainframe as the dominant product.

个人计算机产业的发展历史很好地诠释了信息技术革命对运营模式影响的不可预测性。当IBM做出把重点放在设计和生产个人计算机、而把操作系统和中央处理器分包出去的有关“供应链”的决定时,大多数人对个人计算机能够代替大型计算机作为主流机的潜力持怀疑态度。