HISTORY OF COMPUTERS

Sinead Wright 9LAP3

WHAT ARE COMPUTERS?

Quoted by http://www.techterms.com/definition/computer

Technically, a computer is a programmable machine. This means it can

execute a programmed list of instructions and respond to new instructions

that it is given. Today, however, the term is most often used to refer to the

desktop and laptop computers that most people use. When referring to a

desktop model, the term "computer" technically only refers to the

computer itself -- not the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Still, it is

acceptable to refer to everything together as the computer. If you want to

be really technical, the box that holds the computer is called the "system

unit."

COMPUTERS, THEN AND NOW

TIMELINEComputer History

Year/Enter Computer History

Inventors/Inventions Computer History

Description of Event

1936 Konrad Zuse - Z1 Computer First freely programmable computer.

1942 John Atanasoff & Clifford Berry

ABC Computer Who was first in the computing biz is not always as easy as ABC.

1944 Howard Aiken & Grace Hopper

IBM 701 EDPM Computer IBM enters into 'The History of Computers'.

FORTRAN Computer Programming Language The first successful high level programming language.

1955

VisiCalc Spreadsheet Software Any product that pays for itself in two weeks is a surefire winner.

1984 Apple Macintosh Computer The more affordable home computer with a GUI.

1985 Microsoft Windows Microsoft begins the friendly war with Apple.

MICROSOFT

It’s the 1970s. At work, we rely on typewriters. If we need to copy a document, we likely use a mimeograph or carbon

paper. Few have heard of microcomputers, but two young computer enthusiasts, Bill Gates and Paul Allen, see that

personal computing is a path to the future.

In 1975, Gates and Allen form a partnership called Microsoft. Like most start-ups, Microsoft begins small, but has a

huge vision—a computer on every desktop and in every home. During the next years, Microsoft begins to change the

ways we work.

The dawn of MS‑DOS

In June 1980, Gates and Allen hire Gates’ former Harvard classmate Steve Ballmer to help run the company. The next

month, IBM approaches Microsoft about a project code-named "Chess." In response, Microsoft focuses on a new

operating system—the software that manages, or runs, the computer hardware and also serves to bridge the gap

between the computer hardware and programs, such as a word processor. It’s the foundation on which computer

programs can run. They name their new operating system "MS‑DOS."

When the IBM PC running MS‑DOS ships in 1981, it introduces a whole new language to the general public. Typing

“C:” and various cryptic commands gradually becomes part of daily work. People discover the backslash (\) key.

MS‑DOS is effective, but also proves difficult to understand for many people. There has to be a better way to build an

operating system.

windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/history

APPLE

Steven Wozniak and Steven Jobs had been friends in high school. They had both been interested

in electronics, and both had been perceived as outsiders. They kept in touch after graduation, and

both ended up dropping out of school and getting jobs working for companies in Silicon Valley.

(Woz for Hewlett-Packard, Jobs for Atari)

Wozniak had been dabbling in computer-design for some time when, in 1976, he designed what

would become the Apple I. Jobs, who had an eye for the future, insisted that he and Wozniak try to

sell the machine, and on April 1, 1976, Apple Computer was born.

Hobbyists did not take the Apple I very seriously, and Apple did not begin to take off until 1977,

when the Apple II debuted at a local computer trade show. The first personal computer to come in

a plastic case and include color graphics, the Apple II was an impressive machine. Orders for

Apple machines were multiplied by several times after its introduction. And with the introduction

in early '78 of the Apple Disk II, the most inexpensive, easy to use floppy drive ever (at the time),

Apple sales further increased.

http://apple-history.com/h1

INTEL

In 1968, Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore were two unhappy

engineers working for the Fairchild Semiconductor Company who

decided to quit and create their own company at a time when many

Fairchild employees were leaving to create start-ups. People like

Noyce and Moore were nicknamed the "Fairchildren".

Robert Noyce typed himself a one page idea of what he wanted to

do with his new company, and that was enough to convince San

Francisco venture capitalist Art Rock to back Noyce's and Moore's

new venture.

http://inventors.about.com/od/ijstartinventors/a/Intel-History.htm

IBM

In July of 1980, IBM representatives met for the first time with

Microsoft's Bill Gates to talk about writing an operating system for

IBM's new hush-hush "personal" computer.

IBM had been observing the growing personal computer market for

some time. They had already made one dismal attempt to crack the

market with their IBM 5100. At one point, IBM considered buying the

fledgling game company Atari to commandeer Atari's early line of

personal computers. However, IBM decided to stick with making their

own personal computer line and developed a brand new operating

system to go with.

http://inventors.about.com/od/computersandinternet/a/Ibm-Pc.htm

CONSOLE GAMING

The history of video games goes as far back as the 1940s, when in 1947

Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. and Estle Ray Mann filed a United States patent

request for an invention they described as a "cathode ray tube

amusement device." Video gaming would not reach mainstream

popularity until the 1970s and 1980s, when arcade video games, gaming

consoles and home computer games were introduced to the general

public. Since then, video gaming has become a popular form of

entertainment and a part of modern culture in most parts of the world.

There are currently considered to be eight generations of video game

consoles, with the seventh and the eighth concurrently ongoing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_games

INTERNET

The history of the Internet began with the development of electronic computers

in the 1950s. The public was first introduced to the concepts that would lead to

the Internet when a message was sent over the ARPANet from computer science

Professor Leonard Kleinrock's laboratory at University of California, Los Angeles

(UCLA), after the second piece of network equipment was installed at Stanford

Research Institute (SRI). Packet switched networks such as ARPANET, Mark I at

NPL in the UK, CYCLADES, Merit Network, Tymnet, and Telenet, were developed

in the late 1960s and early 1970s using a variety of protocols. The ARPANET in

particular led to the development of protocols for internetworking, in which

multiple separate networks could be joined together into a network of networks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Internet

MOBILE & TABLETS

The history of mobile phones charts the development of devices which connect wirelessly to the public

switched telephone network. The transmission of speech by radio has a long and varied history going back

to Reginald Fessenden's invention and shore-to-ship demonstration of radio telephony, through the Second

World War with military use of radio telephony links. Early devices were bulky and consumed high power

and the network supported only a few simultaneous conversations. Modern cellular networks allow

automatic and pervasive use of mobile phones for voice and data communications.

The tablet computer and the associated special operating software is an example of pen computing

technology, and thus the development of tablets has deep historical roots.

The depth of these roots can be surprising to people who are only familiar with current commercial

products. For example, the first patent for an electronic tablet used for handwriting was granted in 1888.

[1] The first patent for a system that recognized handwritten characters by analyzing the handwriting

motion was granted in 1915.[2] The first publicly demonstrated system using a tablet and handwriting

recognition instead of a keyboard for working with a modern digital computer dates to 1956.[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_tablet_computers

Thankyou