When were personal computers invented?
"By rights Xerox PARC could claim the PC was invented there and
built in 1972, they created ALTO the first PC ever built." (years
before Apple built their version and marketed it to the public),
"not to mention laying the foundation for the program that
eventually became the basis for the Macintosh
and Windows operating systems."
---research who pirated Apple after they pirated rights from
Microsoft-
-the facts were stated by cutting edge research among today's
foremost scientist's, and theoretical physicist Michio Kaku
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First personal computer was invented by Steve Jobs and Steve
Woznak in 1976. The first PC was an Apple computer.
Please Go To www.YouTube.com/BackSpaceFilms For More Info
The PC industry began in 1977, when Apple, along with Radio
Shack and Commodore, introduced the first off-the-shelf personal
computers as consumer products.
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Personal Computers and microcomputers were made possible by two
technical innovations in the field of microelectronics: the
integrated circuit, or IC, which was developed in 1959; and the
microprocessor, which first appeared in 1971. The IC permitted the
miniaturization of computer-memory circuits, and the microprocessor
reduced the size of a computer's CPU to the size of a single
silicon chip.
The invention of the microprocessor, a machine which combines
the equivalent of thousands of transistors on a single, tiny
silicon chip, was developed by Ted Hoff at Intel Corporation in the
Santa Clara Valley south of San Francisco, California, an area that
was destined to become known to the world as Silicon Valley because
of the microprocessor and computer industry that grew up there.
Because a CPU calculates, performs logical operations, contains
operating instructions, and manages data flows, the potential
existed for developing a separate system that could function as a
complete microcomputer.
The first such desktop-size system specifically designed for
personal use appeared in 1974; it was offered by Micro
Instrumentation Telemetry Systems (MITS). The owners of the system
were then encouraged by the editor of a popular technology magazine
to create and sell a mail-order computer kit through the magazine.
The computer, which was called Altair, retailed for slightly less
than $400.
The demand for the microcomputer kit was immediate, unexpected,
and totally overwhelming. Scores of small entrepreneurial companies
responded to this demand by producing computers for the new market.
The first major electronics firm to manufacture and sell personal
computers, Tandy Corporation (Radio Shack), introduced its model in
1977. It quickly dominated the field, because of the combination of
two attractive features: a keyboard and a cathode-ray display
terminal (CRT). It was also popular because it could be programmed
and the user was able to store information by means of cassette
tape.
Soon after Tandy's new model was introduced, two
engineer-programmers-Stephen Wozniak and Steven Jobs-started a new
computer manufacturing company named Apple Computers.
In 1976, in what is now the Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs and Steve
Wozniak created a homemade microprocessor computer board called
Apple I. Working from Jobs' parents' garage, the two men began to
manufacture and market the Apple I to local hobbyists and
electronics enthusiasts. Early in 1977, Jobs and Wozniak founded
Apple Computer, Inc., and in April of that year introduced the
Apple II, the world's first personal computer. Based on a board of
their design, the Apple II, complete with keyboard and color
graphics capability, retailed for $1290.
Some of the new features they introduced into their own
microcomputers were expanded memory, inexpensive disk-drive
programs and data storage, and color graphics. Apple Computers went
on to become the fastest-growing company in U.S. business history.
Its rapid growth inspired a large number of similar microcomputer
manufacturers to enter the field. Before the end of the decade, the
market for personal computers had become clearly defined.
In 1981, IBM introduced its own microcomputer model, the IBM PC.
Although it did not make use of the most recent computer
technology, the PC was a milestone in this burgeoning field. It
proved that the microcomputer industry was more than a current fad,
and that the microcomputer was in fact a necessary tool for the
business community. The PC's use of a 16-bit microprocessor
initiated the development of faster and more powerful micros, and
its use of an operating system that was available to all other
computer makers led to a de facto standardization of the
industry.
In the mid-1980s, a number of other developments were especially
important for the growth of microcomputers. One of these was the
introduction of a powerful 32-bit computer capable of running
advanced multi-user operating systems at high speeds. This has
dulled the distinction between microcomputers and minicomputers,
placing enough computing power on an office desktop to serve all
small businesses and most medium-size businesses.
Another innovation was the introduction of simpler,
"user-friendly" methods for controlling the operations of
microcomputers. By substituting a graphical user interface (GUI)
for the conventional operating system, computers such as the Apple
Macintosh allow the user to select icons-graphic symbols of
computer functions-from a display screen instead of requiring typed
commands. Douglas Engelbart, invented an "X-Y Position Indicator
for a Display System": the prototype of the computer "mouse" whose
convenience has revolutionized personal computing. New
voice-controlled systems are now available, and users may
eventually be able to use the words and syntax of spoken language
to operate their microcomputers.
