Olivetti yesterday announced the formation of a new company, Prodest International SpA, to manufacture and market home and educational computers for the European market. The first product is the PC1, designed to run MS-DOS 3.2, which will have a base price equivalent to about $750. That buys 512Kb processor with single 3.5 floppy drive, with options of a second 3.5 or a 5.25 floppy drive and monochrome screen. Colour and TV screens are also supported. The machine will be launched in Italy this month, and will be offered in other European countries later. The new machine is not related to the planned educational computer on which Olivetti, its Acorn affiliate here, and Thomson of France have been working on for two years now.
