History of Commercial Computing Power
Link to Brief History (Sort Of)
1830’s-1840’s: Charles Babbage invents the Difference Engine
and the Analytical Engine (neither ever built). Ada Lovelace writes computer
algorithms.
1940’s: several unique computers hand built: Colossus, ENIAC, etc.
1948: Transistor invented by Bell Labs
1951: Univac I, first commercial computer; 1 K main,
assembly language only
1952: Univac predicts election of Eisenhower as President; not announced until
later.
late 50’s: Higher level languages were starting to be used: FORTRAN, COBOL,
ALGOL, and LISP. Operating systems small or none
1959: transistorized computers first become common
Operating systems large and helpful. Time-sharing common.
1963: BASIC developed at Dartmouth
1964: IBM 360 series 16M main (but had virtual memory)
1968: first hand-held calculator; also the PDP-8, the first really successful
minicomputer; Pascal developed; first mouse, windows, videoconferencing demoed
1970: ARPANET military-university network
1971: the first microprocessor, the Intel 4004, was created
1972: first email, FTP programs
1974: Intel 8080 eight-bit microprocessor
1975: first Cray supercomputer delivered
1977: Apple II, 48K main; 100 hosts on ARPAnet
1978: the first 16-bit microprocessor was developed
1979: VisiCalc, first spreadsheet
1981: first IBM PC; DOS created; CSNET founded
1983: first desktop workstations (many with UNIX)
1984: Apple Macintosh: first WIMP (windows, icons, menus, pointing devices) interface;
1,000 hosts on Internet
1987: Ada available (developed for embedded systems, it was the first language
for very large projects); 10,000 hosts on Internet
1989: 100, 000 hosts on Internet
1990: WWW created
1994: first Web browser; Amazon.com business plan; Java demoed
1997: 1 million people on the Internet
1998: Justice Department files suit against Microsoft
1999: 43 million people on the Internet
2000:Microsoft found guilty of monopolistic practices and ordered split into two companies, The order is appealed and rescinded. Other action is pending.
2000: Napster has to protect copyrighted music better but is restructuring. This decision strengthening copyright protection affects many Web companies.
2000: Many “dot com” companies fail, as they cannot deliver effective services at a profit. Others become very successful.
2001: 150 million people on the internet
The rest is still being written.
© 2001 by Dennis Martin