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Computer : a history of the information machine

Author: Martin Campbell-Kelly; William Aspray
Publisher: New York : Basic Books, ©1996.
Series: Sloan technology series.
Edition/Format:   Book : English : 1st edView all editions and formats
Summary:
Blending strong narrative history and a fascinating look at the interface of business and technology, Computer: A History of the Information Machine traces the dramatic story of the invention of the computer. Earlier histories of the computer have depicted it as a tool both created by and to be used by scientists to solve their own number-crunching problems - as late as 1949 it was thought by some that the world
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Details

Additional Physical Format: Online version:
Campbell-Kelly, Martin.
Computer.
New York : Basic Books, c1996
(OCoLC)604678354
Document Type: Book
All Authors / Contributors: Martin Campbell-Kelly; William Aspray
ISBN: 0465029892 9780465029891 0465029906 9780465029907
OCLC Number: 34149613
Description: ix, 342 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Contents: Before the computer: When computers were people --
The mechanical office --
Babbage's dream comes true --
Creating the computer: Inventing the computer --
The computer becomes a business machine --
The maturing of the mainframe: the rise and fall of IBM --
Innovation and expansion: Real time: reaping the whirlwind --
Software --
New modes of computing --
Getting personal: The shaping of the personal computer --
The shift to software --
From the world brain to the world wide web.
Series Title: Sloan technology series.
Responsibility: Martin Campbell-Kelly and William Aspray.
More information:

Abstract:

Blending strong narrative history and a fascinating look at the interface of business and technology, Computer: A History of the Information Machine traces the dramatic story of the invention of the computer. Earlier histories of the computer have depicted it as a tool both created by and to be used by scientists to solve their own number-crunching problems - as late as 1949 it was thought by some that the world would never need more than a dozen machines. This book suggests a richer story behind the computer's creation, one that shows how business and government were the first to explore the unlimited potential of the machine as an information processor. Not surprisingly, at the heart of the business story is the name IBM.

Most interesting is the story of how the computer began to reshape broad segments of our society when the PC, or personal computer, enabled new modes of computing that liberated people from dependence on room-sized, enormously expensive mainframe computers. Oddly, the established computer companies initially missed the potential of the PC and ignored it, allowing upstart firms such as Apple and Microsoft to become the fastest growing firms of the twentieth century. Filled with lively insights - many about the world of computing in the 1990s, such as the strategy behind Microsoft Windows - as well as a discussion of the rise and creation of the World Wide Web, here is a book no one who owns or uses a computer will want to miss.

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