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* CYBERSPACE *
* A biweekly column on net culture appearing *
* in the Toronto Sunday Sun *
* *
* Copyright 2000 Karl Mamer *
* Free for online distribution *
* All Rights Reserved *
* Direct comments and questions to: *
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1000 Years of Computer History
Part II: The Darker Ages, from Windows to Windows 3.1
Welcome to my thousand year history of computers. In the last
edition of Cyberspace we covered the dark ages of computing, a
period ranging from the introduction of zero in the 12th
century to the invention of BASIC in 1964.
Things develop pretty quickly from here on in. Gimme your hand.
Alan Kay Invents Everything Not Yet Invented
1972
Alan Kay took a job at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center and
set about designing the world's first notebook computer called
the Dynabook. His idea for a computer you could carry around
under your arm, instead of a computer that needed to be wheeled
in pieces into a room, was at least a decade ahead of the
technology curve. While waiting for the technology to catch up,
he developed Object Oriented Programming, the graphical user
interface, laser printing, and Ethernet. He eventually got
hired by Apple and helped create the Macintosh.
Apple II Released
1977
Most people are probably familiar with the story of how Steve
Jobs and Steve Wozniak (no relation despite the same first
name) started Apple in their garage. The Apple was not their
first creation. Jobs and Wozniak got the tinkering bug back in
a high school science course. Hewlett-Packard (HP), then an
obscure manufacturer of scientific instruments, used to donate
surplus junk to California high schools teaching electronics.
Jobs and Wozniak found their muse building things out of HP's
surplus hardware. This miniscule investment kick started the
minds that started Apple, which started the desktop publishing
revolution, which started HP earning tidy profits as the
leading manufacturer of laser printers.
A Harvard Business Student Creates the VisiCalc Spreadsheet
1978
For a couple years, microcomputers like the Apple II, the PET,
and the TRS-80 were really just expensive calculators that
played some lame games. In the spring of 1978, when most young
men's minds were turning to love, Dan Bricklin dreamed up the
idea of an electronic spreadsheet while sitting in a Harvard
business class. He borrowed a friend's Apple II and wrote it in
BASIC. Business people rapidly saw VisiCalc's utility for
creating expense and time sheet and other things that needed
numbers jiggled. Business people bought Apple IIs in large
numbers simply to run the spreadsheet software. When IBM sales
people came knocking to try and sell companies $20,000 systems,
they found $2,000 worth of Apple hardware and VisiCalc running
on people's desks. IBM quickly realized it need a lean, mean,
VisiCalc-running machine of its own.
IBM Releases the PC
1981
When Big Blue's big sales men in big blue suits began reporting
big losses in sales to little Apple, Big Blue's biggest boys
knew they had to act fast big time. But they realized that
being big in the world of microcomputers wasn't so grand. The
time it took the company's various levels of bureaucracy to
turn out a new product meant the computer would be obsolete the
moment it hit the store shelves. The solution was to create a
computer from off-the-shelf components and license an operating
system. Legend has it IBM tried to set up a meeting with Gary
Kidall, the creator of the CP/M operating system. CP/M was at
that time world's most popular OS. Kidall arrogantly thumbed
his nose at IBM, preferring to enjoy a day of perfect flying
weather in his private plane. IBM then looked up Bill Gates who
showed them Microsoft DOS.
Internet Opened to Commercial Traffic
1991
The National Science Foundation, which oversaw the Internet's
principle backbone, had banned commercial use since the net's
inception. In 1991, it lifted this restriction, opening up the
net to a wide range of non-educational uses. This single move
is probably more important than the development of browser and
web technology (both developed in 1991 as well). With the
restriction gone, the public at large now had access to all
those make-money-fast emails and pictures of Gillian Anderson's
head stuck on naked centerfold bodies.
Windows 3.1 Is Released
1992
Eghads.
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