COMPSCI 111 SC - Lecture 31 1 of 6 COMPSCI 111 SC - Lecture 31 2 of 6

Prof. Howard Aiken (1900 - 1973) sought backing from Watson in 1939, and with IBM support, the
Computer COMPSCI 111 SC - Lecture 31 Harvard Mark I was produced in 1944. It used relays (electromagnetic switches) instead of gears, which
Science October 2003 was a large step forward. It took approx. 3 seconds to multiply numbers together.

John Eckert, and John Mauchly were the principle

designers of ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator
Development of the Computing Machine and Computer), which was completed in 1946 under
Army sponsorship. The ENIAC used vacuum tubes
Abacus (1000 - 500 BC) - The first aid to calculation, possibly invented in Babylonia (now Iraq). The which were 1000 times faster than relays. It was 100 feet
improved speed of calculation ensured the success of the abacus, which is still used today in some long, 10 feet high, and 3 feet wide, but could do a
countries. multiplication in 3 milliseconds. They later created the
UNIVAC I.
Arabic numerals were introduced to Europe (800-1000 AD). The Arabic system included a number for
zero, and greatly simplified calculations. It is the decimal system we still use today. John von Neumann (1903 - 1957), who worked with both
Eckert and Mauchly formed the Institute for Advanced
Wilhelm Schickard (1592 - 1635) built a mechanical calculating clock. It could add and subtract. It Studies (IAS). He developed a general purpose
never made it past the prototype stage. computing machine, the IAS Computer (1945), which
was capable of being programmed.
Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662) was the son of a tax collector. He spent many hours involved in
mathematical operations, which inspired him to build a mechanical calculator in 1642. It had the capacity The first commercial electronic computer is delivered to the US Bureau of the Census in 1951. IBM
for eight digits, and could do both addition and subtraction. It was gear driven, and had a tendency to releases its first commercial electronic computer in 1952.
jam.

Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646 - 1716) followed Pascal and built a digital calculating machine. It Mainframes
was gear and lever driven, and could do multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction. It was Computers continued to play an important part in military and academic institutions, but over the next 20
however, somewhat unreliable. years, computers began to be used in business. The telephone companies were one of the first industries
to embrace computer technology, using computers to route communications signals. As technology
Joseph Jacquard (1752 - 1834) built an automatic Weaving developed, the size of computer decreased. The first generation of computers used vacuum tubes (1951 –
Loom, which used punch cards to control the selection of 1958) which were large and unreliable. The invention of the transistor in 1947 by Bell Telephone Lab
threads for weaving into complex patterns resulted in the old glass vacuum tubes (3 - 5cm long) being replaced with a small, cheap and reliable
electronic component (approx. 0.5 cm long), and defined the second generation of computers (1959 –
Charles Babbage (1792 - 1872), a mathematics professor 1964). Later, the invention of the Integrated Circuit in 1959 by Texas Instruments/Fairchild
of Cambridge, inspired by the Jacquard Loom, designed an Semiconductor started the third generation of computers (1965 – 1971). These silicon chips stored over
automatic calculating machine called a Difference Engine. 1000 transistors on a single piece of silicon. Finally, the fourth generation of computers began around
In 1822 he had a working model, which was to be fully 1971 with the use of large scale integrated circuits (LSI) and very large scale integrated circuits (VLSI).
automated, and steam powered. He lost interest in 1833 It was shortly afterwards that the personal computer industry began.
and began designing another more general machine called
an Analytic Engine. It was never completed, partially due Personalities and Personal Computers
to a lack of engineering precision. The personal computer industry is unique in the business world in many ways. It grew incredibly quickly
from its beginning in 1975 to a billion dollar industry within 5 years. The industry was created and
Ada Augusta (1816 - 1852), Countess of Lovelace and daughter of Lord Byron is controlled by kids who had no formal business training. It is an industry where products must be
generally considered to be the first computer programmer. She corrected some of recreated every 18 months, and competition is intense. It is an industry in which anyone can become a
Babbage’s errors and added her own ideas about the calculating machine. She is millionaire.
credited as developing the programming loop.
Mainframes
William Burroughs (1855 -1898) introduces a reliable Computers were once large complex machines that were only affordable to large businesses. Large
mechanical adding machine in 1886. These machines companies built the computers, sold them directly to the customer (business or government), serviced
were extremely popular, and over a million were sold them for a monthly fee, and wrote the software which they licensed to the customer for another monthly
by 1926. They were so popular in fact, that Henry Ford fee. The computer maker made as much money from the post-sales servicing as they did from selling it
released a motor car with a space set aside for the in the first place. There was only a small market for these machines, primarily in Research Institutions,
adding machine. Burroughs computer were widely used in the Banking Government Departments or very Big Businesses. An ordinary person had to get permission to even get
industry until very recently (1990’s). close to them, and had to pay for the time spent using them. Many of these computers were controlled by
IBM.
Dr. Herman Hollerith (1860 - 1929) recognised a problem in the US Census
Office where he worked. The 1880 US Census took 7 years to tabulate, and Xerox
the population was steadily increasing. It was estimated that the 1990 In 1969, Xerox opened the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). During the early 70’s, Xerox decided not
Census would not be tabulated before starting on the 1900 census. He to enter the computing market. At this time they were already being investigated for monopolistic
developed an Electro-mechanical punch card tabulator, which automatically totalled the cards. The 1890 business practices. By 1977, half of Xerox’s revenue was spent on defence in court. However, Xerox
Census was tabulated in 3 years, and Hollerith formed the Tabulating Machine Company. Thomas PARC’s research contributed significantly to many of the advances in computer technology, including
Watson joined the company in 1914, and with Watson as president it was renamed International Business Ethernet, WYSIWYG, the development of the GUI (as we know it), the invention of Laser Printers and
Machines (IBM) in 1924 the development of Smalltalk (the first functional language).
COMPSCI 111 SC - Lecture 31 3 of 6 COMPSCI 111 SC - Lecture 31 4 of 6

Intel
The first integrated circuit was announced by Fairchild VISICALC
Semiconductors in 1959. Nine years later, in 1968, Robert Apple computers initially had trouble finding a market. Businesses used mainframes, and nobody had a
Noyce and Gorden Moore left Fairchild Semiconductors and use for a computer at home, so sales of the Apple II were limited to enthusiasts... that is, until
formed Intel Corporation. Their microprocessors became more VISICALC. Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston invented what they called a visible calculator. It was a
and more powerful, and in 1974 they created the Intel 8080 program which helped in financial planning. A table was created where the value in each cell in the table
chip. This microprocessor had all the components needed for an was related to the others. This meant that changing the value in one cell altered the value in the other
entire computer. These chips were available to anyone, and the cells accordingly. Today we call such programs Spreadsheets. After a slow start, businessmen
time was right for people to build their own machines. everywhere became exited about the spreadsheets, and they all had to have it. VISICALC was only
available on the Apple, and it was so useful that it justified buying an Apple computer. Sales soared.
Altair
Ed Roberts was interested in computers, but could not afford to own one. IBM’s Open Architecture
Like many other enthusiasts, he wanted to build his own computer with the By 1980, the personal computer market was worth over 1 billion
new affordable microprocessors from Intel. He ran a small calculator dollars. IBM wanted to enter the market, but due to internal
company called MITS, but nobody was buying his calculators, and MITS structuring of the company, it would take too long to develop a
was going bankrupt. Ed hoped to save MITS by marketing a kitset product. Bill Lowe proposed a daring plan. To save time, they
computer, and the bank reluctantly agreed to loan him the $65,000 he would not built a computer from scratch, but would buy existing
needed. He was considered an components from other companies and assemble them. This
optimist for expecting to sell 800 in concept of “open architecture” was alien to IBM, and difficult to
a year. The first Altair kitset sell to the corporate executives, but with the backing of the
appeared on the cover of Popular Chairman, Bill Lowe’s team developed an IBM PC within a year.
Electronics in January 1975. Within a month he was receiving IBM realised that competitors could copy the same architecture, but
250 orders a day. The personal computer industry was born. Ed knew that they would always be able to buy in bulk, and thought
Roberts assembled 40,000 Altairs before he sold the business in that the bulk discount would ensure that they could always produce the machines for a lower price than
1978 when it became just too competitive. competitors. The only remaining step to secure entry to the PC market was software development. A
computer needs an operating system and a language used to write programs before it can be really useful,
and IBM had neither.
Microsoft
Paul Allen and Bill Gates had been friends since high school, and had already CPM
had experience writing software for mainframe computers. The picture on the Gary Kildall was a PhD graduate who programmed mainframes. During the early 70’s he wrote an
Popular Mechanics cover excited Allen and Gates who realised that there operating system for himself, and found that others were interested in purchasing it, so he formed a
would be a market for software, and a lot of money could be made. Fearing company called Digital Research. As personal computers were developed, Gary produced a version of
they were already too late, they wrote a version of BASIC which would work his operating system known as CPM for them. By 1980, he had already sold 600,000 copies, so he was
on the 8080 chip. Ed Roberts was shown a demo after which he agreed to the obvious choice for IBM. However, he was arrogant, and refused to sign a contract with IBM because
package the BASIC language with the Altair. Gates quit Harvard University of a non-disclosure clause. IBM looked for alternatives.
and together with Allen formed Microsoft.
Microsoft DOS
Homebrew Computer Club At the time IBM needed software, Microsoft was already the biggest supplier of languages for the PC
The Altair took about 40 hours to put together, and even then it didn’t always work. If it did work, you market, but they had never written an operating system. IBM was willing to buy languages from
ended up with a box with a row of switches and a set of lights. There was no keyboard, no screen, and no Microsoft, but not without an operating system to run them on. Fearing that they would lose the contract,
storage device for information. It was difficult to use, so people formed clubs where they could discuss Bill Gates promised to produce an operating system for IBM. The solution was provided by Tim
problems, and show off new developments. The Homebrew Computer Club was one such club in which Patterson, a programmer who wrote an operating system based on CPM. He called it QDOS, and sold it
everyone shared their solutions and helped each other to learn. It was here that Steve Wozniak and Steve to Seattle Computer Products. Bill Gates bought the license for QDOS from SCP for $50,000. Two days
Jobs first met. later they handed it over to IBM under the name MS-DOS.
Microsoft was paid a fixed fee (about $80,000) with no royalties for both MS-Dos and BASIC. In itself,
Apple
this deal wasn’t worth much, but the key to Microsoft’s success was that IBM had no control over the
Steve Wozniak was a hardware genius who began building his own
licensing of the software to other people. Microsoft expected other people to build machines compatible
computer at the Homebrew Computer Club. His technical ability attracted
with the IBM PC to whom they could licence their software. And that is just what happened.
Steve Jobs who lacked the expertise of Wozniak, but had vision, drive and
charisma. Wozniak’s first computer was called the Apple 1, and consisted
of a single circuit board without even a case. Steve Jobs managed to sell IBM Clones
50 Apple 1’s which convinced him that there The chips used in IBM’s open architecture were made by Intel. These chips were sold to anyone who
was a market for a personal computer. His was interested, and many people were. In 1982, one year after the IBM PC was shipped, a group of
dream was to make computing available to engineers got together and formed a company called Compaq in order to create a computer compatible
everyone, at an affordable price. Some venture with the IBM PC. They bought the same chips from Intel, and by reverse engineering, produced a
capital made the dream a possibility. Steve computer which behaved the same as an IBM computer, but was a little cheaper. In the first year of
Wozniak designed the hardware, and Steve Jobs business, Compaq sales reached $111 million. Soon, there were many companies repeating the process
did the rest, demanding the Apple II looked like a piece of consumer and producing their own clones, always a little cheaper than IBM.
electronics. The Apple II was completed in 1977 and launched in 1978 at the Driving the sales of both the IBM PC and all the Clones was another spreadsheet. Based on VISCALC,
West Coast Computer Faire. Two years later when Apple became a public Lotus 1-2-3 provided a spreadsheet for the IBM PC. Within a year, Lotus was worth $150 million, and
company, both Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak became millionaires. you no longer needed to buy an Apple II.
COMPSCI 111 SC - Lecture 31 5 of 6 COMPSCI 111 SC - Lecture 31 6 of 6

Timeline
Macintosh
In 1968 Doug Engelbart of the Stanford Research Institute 1959 - Texas Instruments and Fairchild Semiconductor both announce first Integrated Circuit
publicly demonstrated a word processor which used windows to 1964 - BASIC developed
display the text. Xerox PARC developed this idea further by 1968 - Doug Engelbart of SRI demonstrates mouse, keypad, keyboard, windows, word processor
creating a Graphical User Interface for the computers they were 1968 - Robert Noyce and Gorden Moore leave Fairchild Semiconductor and form Intel Corp.
using for research. These computers featured windows, 1971 - Xerox opens Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)
pulldown menus, a mouse and a corresponding pointer for 1974 - First WYSIWYG program developed at PARC
operating the system. In 1979 Steve Jobs was given a tour of 1975 - Ed Roberts at MITS releases the Altair
PARC, and it was this graphical interface which caught his - Bill Gates and Paul Allen form Micro-Soft, and license BASIC to MITS
attention. He had the vision to see that an easy to use interface 1976 - Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs form Apple Computer
(like the one in PARC) would open up computing to the masses, 1977 - Apple II released for $1300
and allow everyone to share the computing experience. Steve Jobs set about creating a computer that - Microsoft becomes an official company
anyone could use. It began as the Lisa, and was later redesigned and renamed the Macintosh. It was 1978 - Microsoft sales reach $1 Million
released in January 1984. Over time, driven by Lotus 1-2-3 and backed by its good name, IBM began to - Space Invaders developed and released
overtake sales of the Apple II. The Macintosh had to be good, and it needed software. It needed 1979 - Steve Jobs given tour of PARC in exchange for Xerox buying shares in Apple Computers
something that IBM PC’s couldn’t do. - VISICALC released
1980 - Apple computers becomes public company
Adobe - Apple computers holds 50% of the personal computer market
John Warnock had developed a new technology, which allowed laser printers to print exactly what was - Microsoft buys rights to QDOS from SCP for $50,000, ships as MS-DOS
displayed on the screen. He left Xerox PARC and founded Adobe systems to develop the concept of 1981 - IBM PC shipped
WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get). Steve Jobs recognised the value of his work, and Apple 1982 - First IBM clone released by Columbia Data Products
invested in 20 percent of Adobe. The quality of laser printed images, combined with Macintosh’s ease of - Japanese companies enter market (Matsushita, Toshiba, NEC, Hitachi, Anritsu, Sanyo )
use created a brand new industry; desk-top publishing. The Macintosh had found its place in the market, 1983 - Apple release Lisa based on Xerox costing $50 million to develop
a position which it still holds today. Apple was still in trouble however, but Steve Jobs would not admit - IBM XT released for $5000
it. He disagreed with the management of Apple, and in 1985 sold all his shares in Apple and left in - Lotus 1-2-3 released
disgust. 1984 - Macintosh introduced by Apple Computer for $2,500
- IBM AT released using the Intel 80286 chip
Compaq’s 386 1985 - IBM and Microsoft sign deal to collaborate on future OS
Once IBM had entered the personal computer industry, it threatened to dominate the entire market. The - Steve Jobs leaves Apple and founds NeXT Incorporated
early success of Apple computers was beginning to fade in the mid 80’s and IBM held 50% of the - Microsoft ships Windows version 1.0
market. People were concerned that IBM would swallow the personal computer market and maintain a - VISICALC rights sold to Lotus
complete monopoly over computer technology. The turning point for IBM came in September 1986 1986 - Microsoft sells shares to public, Bill Gates becomes worlds youngest Billionare
when Compaq released a new IBM compatible computer based on the new Intel 80386 chip. This - Steve Jobs buys Pixar from Lucasfilm
computer was released before IBM had released its own version based on the same chip. Compaq 1989 - Apple develops True-Type font system
showed the world that IBM could be beaten, and others could compete against Big Blue. The prices of 1990 - Federal Trade Commission investigates Microsoft for monopolistic practices
the clones keep falling, and IBM could not keep pace. By the early 90’s, IBM was losing enormous - Microsoft sales reach $1 Billion for past year
amounts of money (5-6 million dollars a day), and it retreated from the PC industry, defeated by its own - Microsoft Windows 3.0 shipped
open architecture design. 1995 - Steve Jobs releases hit movie Toy Story, sells shares in Pixar and becomes a billionaire
- Windows 95 released. Sells 4 million copies in 6 weeks
1997 - Microsoft held in contempt of court for continuing to ship IE4 with Windows 95
Microsoft Windows
Impressed by the GUI concept of the Macintosh, Microsoft began to build its own version. The first
couple of versions weren’t very good, but then in 1990, Windows 3.0 was launched, and it was good References:
enough to compete with the Macintosh. People could now do the same things on a Macintosh that they Accidental Empires. Robert Cringely
did on a IBM compatible, but for lower cost, since the IBM clones were much cheaper than the A Short History of the Computer, Jeremy Meyers
Macintosh. Apple computers became a fading influence in the PC industry. In August 1995 Microsoft
released Windows 95 with a GUI that was extremely similar to the Macintosh, and Apple was consigned Author: Andrew Luxton
to a niche in the market.

Conclusion
The computer industry is driven by technology that gets more powerful, yet cheaper every day. In order
for a computer to survive this terrible competition, it must have both hardware and software. The
software available for a machine has an overriding influence upon the consumer. The IBM compatible
computer has become so popular because of a self-reinforcing cycle in the marketplace. People write
software for the most popular machine because they can sell more programs. The more software that is
available, the more popular the machine will become. Good products are ignored or overshadowed by
marketing, and market forces. Steve Jobs had a vision of every home owning a computer. Bill Gates had
a vision that they would all run Microsoft software. Both visions are coming true.