Tech Saying

"Many people see technology as the problem behind the so-called digital divide. Others see it as the solution. Technology is neither. It must operate in conjunction with business, economic, political and social system."
--Carly Fiorina

 We live in a society dependent on technology. The following quote gives you a broad perspective on our use of technology. Feel free to use this quote for an essay, a research paper, an email signature line or a personal motto. If you have an inspirational quote you would like to share feel free to add it by leaving a comment.

The Personal Computer.

                          THE PERSONAL COMPUTER.

A personal computer (PC) is a general-purpose computer, whose size, capabilities, and original sale price makes it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator. This contrasted with the batch processing or time-sharing models which allowed larger, more expensive minicomputer and mainframe systems to be used by many people, usually at the same time. Large data processing systems require a full-time staff to operate efficiently.

 Software applications for most personal computers include, but are not limited to, word processing, spreadsheets, databases, Web browsers ande-mail clients, digital media playback, games, and myriad personal productivity and special-purpose software applications. Modern personal computers often have connections to the Internet, allowing access to the World Wide Web and a wide range of other resources. Personal computers may be connected to a local area network (LAN), either by a cable or a wireless connection. A personal computer may be a desktop computer or a laptop, tablet, or a handheld PC.

 Early PC owners usually had to write their own programs to do anything useful with the machines, even lacking an operating system. The very earliest microcomputers, equipped with a front panel, required hand-loading of a bootstrap program to load programs from external storage (paper tape, cassettes, or eventually diskettes). Before very long, automatic booting from permanent read-only memory became universal.

 Today's users have access to a wide range of commercial software and freeware, which is provided in ready-to-run or ready-to-compile form. Since the early 1990s, Microsoft operating systems and Intel hardware have dominated much of the personal computer market, first with MS-DOS and then with the "Wintel" (Windows + Intel) combination. Popular alternatives to Microsoft's Windows operating systems include Apple's OS X and the free open-source Linux and BSD operating systems. AMD provides the major alternative to Intel's central processing units. Applications and games for PCs are typically developed and distributed independently from the hardware or OS manufacturers, whereas software for many mobile phones and other portable systems is approved and distributed through a centralized online store.

 Personal computers are now a very common item in many houses yet in 1955, there were only 250 computers in use throughout the world. In 1980, more than one million personal computers had been sold and by the mid-1980’s, this figure had risen to 30 million. How did this come about?

 A computer in 1955 was very large and could not have fitted into a normal room in a normal sized house. They frequently burned out and had a tendency to attract moths into the system which short-circuited them. (Getting a computer ‘bug’ now refers back to the time when moths were a problem to the early computers).

 In the late 1950’s, computers got smaller because one of its main components - the valve - was replaced by the much smaller transistor. These made computers far more reliable and therefore businesses took a much greater interest in them. Firms such as IBM could sell a mainframe computer for just under £½ million pounds in today’s money.

 By the mid-1960’s, the microchip was replacing the transistor. A microchip could have several transistors on it. But being smaller, it lead again to a decrease in the size of computers. By 1965, there were 20,000 computers in the world. The most famous was the IBM System/360.

 The microchip also lead to computers being made that were small enough to get into the average sized room in a house. By 1970, one microchip could contain 1000 transistors on it. In 1970, a home personal computer would have cost nearly £70,000 in today’s money.

 In 1971, the microprocessor went on sale. Developed by Ted Hoff of Intel, the Intel 4004 was to revolutionize home computing. The 4004 cost just over £3000 in today’s money but by 1972, Intel had produced the 8008 which was far more powerful that the 4004 but cost a tenth of the price of the 4004. Microprocessors had a multitude of uses but they could be used at the heart of true personal computers.

In the early 1970’s personal computers were used only by hobbyists. The first ‘hobby’ personal computer was the Altair 8800 which cost just under £900 in today’s money. It had the same power as a computer of the 1950’s that cost $1 million.

In 1975, Bill Gates and Paul Allen developed a program for the Altair that allowed people to write their own programs in BASIC program language. Their newly formed company was called Micro-Soft which was later changed to Microsoft.