A VISUALHISTORY OFCOM-PUTERS

A VISUALHISTORY OFCOM-PUTERS

MICROC O M P UTERS

The microcomputer revolution began with the MITS Altair 8800, (pictured on previous page) a hobby kit that you could build yourself. Air Force weapon specialists, Ed Roberts and Forest M. Mims III, used their electronic background to manufacture small kits and placed an ad in Popular Electronic, Radio-Electronics and other hobby magazine. They only expected to sell a few hundred but were pleasantly surprise when they sold thousands in the first month. Two of those were Bill Gates and Paul Allen, they sent to MITS a letter asking is they were interesting in buying a BASIC programming language from their company in Seattle. Little did they know that Gates and Allen were actually students at Harvard and did not even have BASIC ready, but they figured if they got their letter in first it would give them a good 30 days before someone else beat them to the punch. Allen flew to Albuquerque and ran Altair BASIC for the first time, on a paper tape. The first time did not go as smooth as they hoped. The screened only displayed “Altair BASIC” then crashed, but that was enough for them to join forces. Gates flew out soon after and him and Allen formed Microsoft, at that time spelled “Micro-Soft.”

The Alto (picture right) was a personal computer developed by Xerox at their Palo Alto Research Center. The Alto was the next big step in microcomputers because of it’s groundbreaking user interface. It featured e-mail, word processing, laser printing, graphics and even a game called Maze War, which was the first 3D multi-user first person shooter game. However, the developers of the Alto did not realize it’s full potential. Only a few hundred were produced and they were never meant for commercial use. Luckily, Steve Jobs realized the potential of the Alto when he took a visit there in 1979. The WYSIWIG, “What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get”, mouse driven graphic interface. He integrated this technology in to his Apple Lisa and Macintosh project.

Data storage disc for the Alto. About the size of a Frisbee

STEVE&ALONG CAME

STEVE

At the same time Bill Gates and Paul Allen were working on BASIC, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs were working on the Apple 1 in Jobs’ parents garage in San Jose, California. They wanted to create a computer that came pre-built and market it for everyday people to use. Wozniak was the one behind building and creating the computer and Jobs was the one who had all the ideas, together they wanted to created an use to use computer that could have practical use

in every household. They did that with the Apple 1, which they demonstrate at the Homebrew Computer Club in April 1976. It went on sale for $666.66 in July 1976. Unlike hobbyist computers like the Altair, the apple came fully assembled with 60+ chips. But it was still not completely consumer friendly, to get it working you needed a case, power supply transformers, power switch, keyboard and composite video display. They later released an optional board for cassette interface that was for storage.

Original Apple logo, 1975. Almost immediately replaced by the now iconic rainbow logo.

THEMICROSOFT

FAMILY

After Bill Gates and Paul Allen helped Altair develop software for their company they decided to settle in Albuquerque and start Microsoft, the first software company. They began by flying out friends from Massachusettes and having them all live in their small apartment.

These people were so passionate about writing code. They usually spent days on end writing code and neglecting personal hygiene.Their diets usually consisted of cola, pizza and acid rock.

They started small, with a core group of people, work on BASIC and eventually the DOS operating system for IBM. But there deal with them was very limited, they were payed a flat fee and never received any roylaties.

Once, they made a deal to let other companies create compatible machines, or clones, Microsoft could deal with them independently. The public wanted IBM PC’s, so to be

succesful a start upcompanies needed to build a computer exactly the IBM.The technique used to create duplicates was called “reverse engineering” which was the act of figuring out how something worked after it had already been invented with the purpose of creating a clone. This technique was first discovered by three men at Compaq, a company created to directly compete with IBM. Once these men perfected their clones, rival companies started to pop up all over. These companies needed software and Microsoft was going to sell it to them.

They began to aggresively market their DOS operating system to everyone creating clones of the IBM. Microsoft rose from a small player to one of the major software vendors in the home computer industry. The company expanded into new markets with the release of the Microsoft Mouse in 1983, as well as a publishing division named Microsoft Press.

VisiCalc& The Spreadsheet Revolution

VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet program for a personal computer. It is considered to be the application that turned the personal computer from a hobbyist toy for computer enthusiasts to a serious business machine. At the time Apple was struggling, they needed an apllication that would make people buy computers just to run it. That sollution came straight from the blackboards of the Harvard Business School. Two students, Dan Fricklin and Bob Frankston were able to bring together the seduction of money and the power of microcomputing. Today, most people think of spreadsheets in a digital form. Spreadsheets were just a tool for financial planning, a grid of numberson a blackboard that work out profits and expenses. All of the numbers in the grid were related to each other and if you were to make a slight adjust

meant you could see what could be saved a few years down the line, this was known as “running the numbers,” a task that took some accounts weeks. The effect of the spreadsheet was enormous. It let businessmen weigh out every possible scenario the best way to make the most amount of money. It was the perfect tool for the 80’s, “the Me Decade”, when money was everything and greed was good. Thanks to VisiCalc, the Apple 2 made history as the business machine that changed the times we lived in and defined the Reagan Generation. Apple was being portrayed as a leader of a revolution.But not everyone got rich off of it. Dan Fricklin decided not to patent his spreadsheet idea. That was a decision that could have potentially made him and Bob Frankston in to multi-millionaires.

T H E G A M E C H A N G E RIn 1995, Microsoft released Windows 95, a new version of the company’s original operating system which featured a completely new user interface, including a start button. They sold more than a million copies of Microsoft Windows 95 were sold in the first four days after its release. The company also released its web browser, Internet Explorer, with the Windows 95 Plus! Pack in August 1995 and subsequent Windows versions

Following the release of Windows 95, Microsoft began to redefine and expand its product line into computer networking and the World Wide Web. Shortly after, it launched a major online service, MSN (Microsoft Network), as a direct competitor to AOL. MSN became an umbrella service for Microsoft’s online services. The company continued to branch out into new markets. In 1996,

Microsoft, starting with a joint venture with NBC to create a new 24/7 cable news station, MSNBC. Microsoft entered the personal digital assistant (PDA) market in November with Windows CE 1.0, a new built-from-scratch version of their flagship operating system, specifically designed to run on low-memory, low-performance machines, such as handhelds and other small computers.

Later in 1997, Internet Explorer 4.0 was released for both Mac OS and Windows, marking the beginning of the takeover of the browser market from rival Netscape. In October, the Justice Department filed a motion in the Federal District Court in which they stated that Microsoft had violated an agreement signed in 1994, and asked the court to stop the bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows.

ATTACK OF THE IMACS

ATTACK OF THE IMACS

ATTACK OF THE IMACS

ATTACK OF THE IMACS

After an internal power struggle at Apple in 1985 left Steve Jobs without a company. So he started NeXT, a company that continued on many of the same ideas he had started at Apple. During the next few years Apple’s stock slowly started to decline.

So in 1996, Apple bought NeXT and reunited Jobs with the company that

he had help start, his baby, and eventually assumed the position of CEO.

Along with Jobs, came a number of groundbreaking projects, including the NEXTSTEP operating system which would eventually become Mac OS X. He also introduced

the iMac, a product that helped saved Mac from near extinction.

The iMac was a monitor and computer tower in one that came

in a wide variety of “flavors.” It was a product that was so easy that all you had to do was take the computer out of the box and plug it in. “So easy there is no step 3” Jeff Goldblum said in the now famous

commercial.The iMac had Steve Jobs written all over it. His signature design style was prevelant in every single feature of the computer. Aesthetically, it was dramatically different from every mainstream computer ever released.

The Imac not only saved Apple, It revitalized the personal computer industry. To this very day, the iMac is the cornerstone of Apple Inc.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

The iPhone was annonced during an address to apple employess on June 28th 2007. The following day , Apple Stores around the country closed their doors at 2pm to prepare for the 6pm release of the invention that was going to change communication forever. Diehard Macheads, were waiting around the block for hours waiting for their chance to buy the revolutionary iPhone.

Steve Jobs had done it, with a partnership with AT&T, he had finally created an Apple cell phone with a touch screen. An idea he had long been pining over since when he first came back to Apple. The Apple Newton Messagepad was their first attempt at making a PDA, but Jobs canned the Newton, deeming it unprofitable. Another attempt at the iPhone was the Motorola ROKR, which was the first mobile phone with iTunes.

With the iPhone, Apple was able to incorporate all of their previous creations, including the iPod, in to one sleek hand-held device.

In 2010 , Apple released the iPad, a much a larger version of the iPhone. Which was been met with some ridicule, but asks a lot of questions about what the future holds for the potential of computers. The desktop PC is dead, long live the hand held computer.