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Charles Babbage
created the First automatic calculator called the analytical engine. Conceived by him in 1834, this machine was designed to evaluate any mathematical formula and to have even higher powers of analysis than his original Difference engine of the 1820s. -
Herman Holleerith
Created the hollerith tabulating machine. He chose the punched card as the basis for storing and processing information and he built the first punched-card tabulating and sorting machines as well as the first key punch, and he founded the company that was to become IBM. Hollerith's designs dominated the computing landscape for almost 100 years. -
Z1 computer
First electric calculator. The machine was a 22-bit floating point value adder and subtracter, with some control logic making it capable of more complex operations such as multiplication and division. -
Eniac
Developed to calculate settings used for weapons. This program was used in WWII to compute ballistic firing tables. -
Univac
First successful electronic digital computer. From 1951 to 1958 a total of 46 Univac I computers were delivered, all of which have since been phased out. -
1st Generation Computers
Last of computers to use vacuum tubes to store data. The first computers used vacuum tubes for circuitry and magnetic drums for memory, and were often enormous, taking up entire rooms. They were very expensive to operate and in addition to using a great deal of electricity, generated a lot of heat, which was often the cause of malfunctions. -
2nd Generation Computers
Used transistors instead of vacuum tubes. The transistor was invented in 1947 but did not see widespread use in computers until the late 1950s. The transistor was far superior to the vacuum tube, allowing computers to become smaller, faster, cheaper, more energy-efficient and more reliable than their first-generation predecessors. -
Jack Kilby
Created the first integrated circuit. It was in a relatively deserted laboratory at TI's brand new Semiconductor Building where Jack Kilby first hit on the idea of the integrated circuit. In July 1958, when most employees left for the traditional two-week vacation period, Kilby as a new employee with no vacation stayed to man the shop. -
3rd Generation Computer
Used the integrated circuit system. IC is a single component containing a number of transistors. Transistors were miniaturized and placed on silicon chips, called semiconductors, which drastically increased the speed and efficiency of computers. -
BASIC
Allowed easy learning for sturdents and eventually led to the creation of microsoft. The original BASIC is refered to as Dartmouth Basic because it was created at Dartmouth College. -
4th generation computer
Used the microproccessor chip. The Intel 4004 chip, developed in 1971, took the integrated circuit one step further by locating all the components of a computer (central processing unit, memory, and input and output controls) on a minute chip. (microproccessor chip) -
Altair computer
The Altair computer marked the start of the personal computer boom. At this point in time, there were no computer or electronic stores to buy your own computer. The only options were to build your own system from plans and designs published or sold in magazines and other sources. It was the individual owner's responsibility to find and acquire all the parts necessary to assemble it. -
Introduction of the GUI
Allowed easier user interaction with the computer. instead of entering text into the computer and telling it what to do there were icons you simply pointed on and clicked to carry out those commonds making computers much more user friendly. -
Steve Jobs
Create the apple computer. He built the first 50 apple 1 computers with a friend in his parents home. -
Bill Gates
Formed Microsoft. Gates left Harvard during his junior year and, with Allen, formed Microsoft. -
Apple II
First computer with a color monitor, sound, and game. The first apple II's were assembled in sillicon valley and later in
Texas -
VisiCalc
First electronic spreadsheet spplication. it was made to be a simple way to create spreadsheets. -
WordStar
First Word processing application. WordStar was then the best selling software program of the early eighties. Paradoxically, one of the main reasons of its commercial success was that it has also been the most pirated software in the world for several years. Much more books and WordStar manuals were sold than the software itself. -
Osborne Computer
This is where the portable computers began. What makes it portable, or more often described as luggable, is that everything is in one package, easily transported from one location to another by simply unplugging the power, attaching the keyboard to the front of the system, and being on your way. The leather carrying handle on the back is a classy touch. -
Excel
First Spreadsheet to use GUI technology. Allowed people to organize information and enter certain function that allowed the software to calculate equations. -
PageMaker
First desktop publishing software. PageMaker 1.0 included all the basic elements needed to lay out pages: free form drag and drop positioning of page elements, sophisticated type tools, a well-chosen selection of drawing tools, the ability to import text and graphics (most importantly, EPS files) from other applications, and the ability to print to high resolution PostScript printers with WYSIWYG accuracy. -
Mosaic
Allowed the first multi-media web viewing. Mosaic was developed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign beginning in late 1992 -
NetScape
Predominant player in browser software. The original browser was once the dominant browser in terms of usage share, but as a result of the first browser war, it lost virtually all of its share to Internet Explorer.Netscape was discontinued and support for all Netscape browsers and client products was terminated on March 1, 2008.
