Reading Assignment #2--Swedin/Ferro's Computers pgs. 84-149

Hello dear followers. After reading the second half of Computers: The Life Story Of A Technology by Swedin and Ferro I was quite surprised to learn as to how personal computers have changed over time. Computers and microprocessors such as Altair, Intel and Apple,have come a long way. The Altair 8800 was a microcomputer design from 1975 based on the Intel 8080 CPU and sold by mail order through advertisements in Popular Electronics, Radio-Electronics and other hobbyist magazines. The designers hoped to sell only a few hundred build-it-yourself kits to hobbyists, and were surprised when they sold thousands in the first month. The Altair also appealed to individuals and businesses who just wanted a computer and purchased the assembled version. Altair was shipping microcomputers out to cumstomers as fast as they could make them, and by the end of 1976, other companies began creating and selling microcomputers as well (p.89).

On April Fool's Day, 1976, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs released the Apple I computer and started Apple Computers. The Apple I was the first with a single circuit board used in a computer. Wozniak and Jobs started out as young students who had an interest in electronic devices and technology. The first home computer with a GUI or graphical user interface was the Apple Lisa. The very first graphical user interface was developed by the Xerox Corporation at their Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in the 1970s. Steve Jobs, visited PARC in 1979 (after buying Xerox stock) and was impressed and influenced by the Xerox Alto, the first computer ever with a graphical user interface. Jobs designed the new Apple Lisa based on the technology he saw at Xerox. With the 1984 Apple Macintosh Steve Jobs made sure developers created software for the new Macintosh Computer. Jobs figured that software was the way to win the consumer over. American computer executive, Steve Jobs co-founded Apple Computer, one of the first manufacturers of personal home computers. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak made a natural team inventing the first ready-made personal computer.

In conclusion, computers have entered almost every arena of human society. They operate in our homes, our workplaces, and our schools. They come in so many shapes and sizes that it is sometimes difficult to recognize them: while laptop and desktop computers are commonplace, computers can also be found in home electronics, automobiles, airplanes, automatic teller machines (ATM's), security systems, and many other devices and situations. Many of the world's societies depend heavily on computers in the operation of their transportation systems, commerce, utilites, law enforcement, goverance, and more. The operation of computers in human society is so widespread that computers are often said to be ubiquitous. Moreover, the growth of of computer network access has happened at such a rate and to such an extent that the phrase "anytime, anywhere computing" has become a commonplace.