The History of Computing, Part 1 Lecture 2

Lecture two saw a guest lecturer provide information on the history of computing. It was interesting to hear from someone who really knew his stuff and who also shared his personal experiences concerning the growth and movement of the internet and the personal computer.

The History of Computing:

19th Century produced the origins of the adding machine and particularily the works of Charles Babbage, the inventor of the first digital computer. He was later able to sketch out the logical structure of the modern computer.

The 1950's saw the first commerically produced computers by IBM. These machines where thought to be very large and expensives devices used for the military, government and the corporate world.

The 1970's saw the development of concepts, including the mouse, the graphical user interface and pull-down menues, which we take for granted today.

In 1975 the first personal computer (PC) released.






Shortly after, the famous company Apple was created by Steve Jobs and Steve Wazniak.








Competition was fierce as IBM teamed up with Bill Gates's Microsoft systems to try and occupy a maximum position within the booming marketplace. As a result, IBM and Microsoft took off and dominated the market.




1998 saw the rise of Apple once again with its release of the Apple iMac, which has turned their losses dramactically around.

In 1991, born out of a need for an inexpensive operating system, a Finnish programmer named Linus Torvalds created the GNU/Linux system. This Free operating system has quickly spread across the world.