A blog on the 2nd Half of the Reading

I am happy to write in my second blog about the second half of Computers: The Story of Technology by Eric Swedin and David Ferro, that it was not as boring as the first half. In chapter five, the two authors got my attention right away when they wrote about the Altair 8800. I am a big Star Trek fan maybe that is why I became interested in this computer. When I read about the cost, $397 unassembled and $100 already assembled, I thought that sounded like a reasonable price, but then I remembered this was the 1970’s. What I also found interesting is the way the CPU communicated with the “expansion slot”, through a bus. An “electronic roadway” so the computer can find out what needs attention. (p. 86)

After reading an article about the Altair 8800 in the magazine Popular Electronics, Bill Gates and Paul Allen notified Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), the manufacturers of the new microcomputer, and reported to them that they were working on a BASIC language for the Altair. They gave Edward Roberts, the inventor of the Altair, a demonstration on the BASIC language. Everything took off from there and almost every computer now is based on the Altair 8800. It is fascinating to read about the beginnings of an empire.

Another interesting part of computer history is the separation of software and hardware in the merchandising industry. The sales of software “completely revolutionized the software industry” as stated in the book. The numbers are staggering, “$10 billion” in 1982 and “$25 billion in 1985”. (p. 103)  I did some research on the Internet and according to the IT Channel Planet website, “Global Enterprise Software Sales to Exceed $232 Billion for 2010”. These numbers are mind blowing!

As we all know, the invention of the Internet changed the face of the planet! I remember thinking while I was reading about the IP numbers and how hard they were to remember. At the time, I was so happy when they started giving addresses names instead of mile long numbers. It was fascinating to read about the six specific domain endings that are used for the addresses: “.com: commercial, .edu: educational, .net: network, .gov: government, .mil: military, and .org: organization”. (p. 120)

After finishing this book, I could not help think of how close science fiction has come to reality. With the invention of the computer and the Internet, our culture will see science fiction and technology’s world get closer and closer. As a society who worships the next convenient gadget, only our imagination can either hold us back or catapult us into what the future holds. The book closes with a thought about how society will look back at us and think how primitive we seemed. I do not think they will be far off, think where we were fifty years ago and what inventions where created even in the last thirty years!