Back in the 19th century Charles Babbage was the man who started it all by developing a blueprint of how computers would function before creating the computer itself. As it turned out, his design was a perfect prediction. This creation called the Difference Engine made to calculate and print mathematical tables was in fact a computer however it was entirely mechanic possessing no electronic elements.
(Fully operational difference engine at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA)Something good came out of World War II as Alan Turing rallied a team of professional crossword solvers in order to develop the first functioning computers. Turing himself had a solid background in quantum mechanics and had written a paper examining the computability of numbers that would be key in developing the first computer. While the first developed computer only served to break German code it was simply the beginning, serving as the cornerstone for the computers we all use today.
It wasn’t until the 1950s when a group called IBM decided to release computers commercially. However, people that complain about the size, speed or cost of computers today literally would bash their own heads. These first computers were chunky, slow and all the same luxurious, not affordable by the general public. Fortunately, a man named Gordom Moore predicted that the power of computers would double every eighteen months, a concept that prevails to this very day.
It wasn’t until the 1970s that computers started to become accessible to the general public. In 1975 Bill Gates began to develop the first version of Windows forming the basis of the interface people still use to this day as well as popular software like word, powerpoint, paint and games.
The next big step in computing was the coming together of the Steves. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak met at a Home Brew meeting and teamed up to create Apple. Though they didn’t have much success back then, they survived and eventually came to develop the popular Ipod and the Mac computers that slowly seem to gradually be taking over the world of computers today.
However, back in the dark ages, as computers were still a foreign concept, IBM developed a partnership with Bill Gates who provided the necessary software in order to develop a user friendly computer for use in the home.
Later down the track in 1991, a man named Linus Toryalds also created a homebrew operating system known as Linux and enjoyed some success, but no one ever really talks about Linux and not being a nerd myself I don’t have any friends that use it, so I guess there isn’t a lot to be said about him. The only real interesting aspect about Linus and his exploits is the fact that he offered his operating system for free over the internet and through the collaborative efforts of many people perfected his operating system.
Going back to the past for a moment, the U.S. government wanted to use computers for war and so developed the precursor to the internet and world wide web we all use today. The first creation was email, a means of sending information into cyberspace, these messages could not be intercepted as only someone with the correct password could read the email. This popular war technique caught on so much that we incorporated it into our day to day society.
I guess despite war being a terrible happening, it forces people to get creative. The soldiers may fall, but we get cool new playthings for their trouble, nice.
Thanks to these warmongers efforts we now have things like Instant Messenger, Social Networking Sites, and even Email which is still used to this day. Along with popular forms of computer communication there are also other forms such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP) a means of sharing files, Internet Relay Chat (IRC) similar to Instant Messenger but where generally one talks with particular groups of people from all over rather than their select friends, also Discussion Boards and Forums which are like Social Networking Sites too but hold the same principle as IRC where mostly one interacts with strangers from around the world.
So ultimately, anyone who says nothing good comes out of war seriously needs to buy a computer.
For an indepth history of computers with amazing photos, follow the link below.
Computer History
For a simplistic timeline of the history of computers, follow the link below.
Computer History - Timeline
For a simplistic timeline of the history of the internet, follow the link below.
Internet History - Timeline
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