Post on 11-Jan-2016
How Personal Computing Technology Has Changed
by Donna Doyon
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Gadgets…
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We all have them.
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We all love them.
But did you know…
Early computers were text only?
There were no pictures...
There were no pictures...No sounds...
There were no pictures...No sounds...
No video.
Computers were used in business and research
settings to enter data and perform math calculations.
Few people saw a reason to have a
computer at home.
By the late 1970s that changed.
Personal productivity software and games
were developed for home use.
In January 1977 the first personal computer was
sold:
In January 1977 the first personal computer was
sold:
A Commodore PET
In 1977
One man predicted:
“There will be a computer on every desk and in every home.”
In 1977
One man predicted:
“There will be a computer on every desk and in every home.”
In 1977
One man predicted:
~Bill Gates
48,000
Number of Personal Computers
sold in 1977…
(U.S. population: 220,239,000)
292,000,000
Number of Personal Computers
sold in 2008…
(U.S. population: 304,000,000)
In 1977, computer technology was slower and less mobile…
…than it is today.
Times change.
Random Access Memory
1977 – 32,000 bytes
Random Access Memory
1977 – 32,000 bytes
2008 – 8,000,000,000 bytes
CPU Speed
1977 – 1MHz (1,000,000 Hz)
CPU Speed
1977 – 1MHz (1,000,000 Hz)
2008 – 3.2 GHz (3,200,000,000 Hz)
Portable Storage
1977
360 KB
Portable Storage
1977
360 KB
2008
4 GB
Have you ever wondered…
Have you ever wondered…
how data moves over the Internet
The transmission process is pretty technical… and tends to promote glazed looks from non-
technical minded people.
But the basic process can be conveyed by using a simple
analogy:
But the basic process can be conveyed by using a simple
analogy:
Roads
Fifty years ago, the Internet resembled a rutted country road.
Information got where you wanted
it to go (most of the time), but it was a slow, bumpy and
unreliable journey.
Fifty years ago, the Internet resembled a rutted country road.
Today we call the Internet
the Information Super-
Highway…
Information zips, zooms, and swerves to get where it needs
to go in the fastest time possible.
Consider the difference…
Speed on a rutted country road?
10-15 mph
Speed on a super-highway?
65-70 mph in the United States
So if you need to travel 400 miles to your destination…
Rutted road
Rutted road
400 miles = 20 hours
Super highway
Rutted road
400 miles = 20 hours
Super highway
400 miles = 5 ¾ hours
Rutted road
400 miles = 20 hours
On the Internet
Instead of miles per hour…speed is measured in
Megabytes per second.
That Taylor Swift song you want to
download?
That Taylor Swift song you want to
download?
It’s 3.4 MB in size
That Taylor Swift song you want to
download?
It’s 3.4 MB in size
Today, that will take approximately 18
seconds to download.
In 1986 it would have taken over 49 minutes to download!
Why are things so much faster today?
One reason is better roads.
Cables and wireless technology are the Internet roads that connect users.
Improvements in cables and transmission center
technology were like transforming rough country roads into super highways.
They allowed an increase in transmission speeds while
reducing external and transmission noise.
Fiber optic cables, satellite, and microwave technology
allow data to move faster and with fewer errors.
But you don’t have to worry about any of this.
It all happens behind the scenes…
…almost like magic!
Did you know…
Technology is always changing.
Hardware is becoming…
Hardware is becoming…
Faster
Hardware is becoming…
FasterCheaper
Hardware is becoming…
Faster Cheaper
And can store more data
Tomorrow’s gadgets will probably look very different from the ones we use today.
Did you know that?
If not…
You do now.
Music: “Summer Romance”Body & Soul: Quiet Moments
© 2004 Allegro Corp.