Computers And Society
The decade of the 1980's saw an explosion in computer technology and
computer usage that deeply changed society. Today computers are a part of
everyday life, they are in their simplest form a digital watch or more complexly
computers manage power grids, telephone networks, and the money of the world.
Henry Grunwald, former US ambassador to Austria best describes the computer's
functions, “It enables the mind to ask questions, find answers, stockpile
knowledge, and devise plans to move mountains, if not worlds.” Society has
embraced the computer and accepted it for its many powers which can be used for
business, education, research, and warfare.
The first mechanical calculator, a system ...
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actions of the analytical engine were to be done through the use of punched
cards. Even though Babbage worked on the analytical engine for nearly 40 years,
he never actually made a working machine.
In 1889 Herman Hollerith, an American inventor, patented a calculating
machine that counted, collated, and sorted information stored on punched cards.
His machine was first used to help sort statistical information for the 1890
United States census. In 1896 Hollerith founded the Tabulating Machine Company
to produce similar machines. In 1924, the company changed its name to
International Business Machines Corporation. IBM made punch-card office
machinery that dominated business until the late 1960s, when a new generation of
computers made the punch card machines obsolete.
The first fully electronic computer used vacuum tubes, and was so secret
that its existence was not revealed until decades after it was built. Invented
by the English mathematician Alan Turing and in 1943, the ...
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electronic
computer.
By the mid-1970s, microchips and microprocessors had reduced the cost of
the thousands of electronic components required in a computer. The first
affordable desktop computer designed specifically for personal use was called
the Altair 8800, first sold in 1974. In 1977 Tandy Corporation became the first
major electronics firm to produce a personal computer. Soon afterward, a
company named Apple Computer, founded by Stephen Wozniak and Steven Jobs, began
producing computers. IBM introduced its Personal Computer, or PC, in 1981, and
as a result of competition from the makers of clones the price of personal
computers fell drastically. Just recently Apple ...
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Computers And Society. (2008, April 25). Retrieved April 19, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Computers-And-Society/82629
"Computers And Society." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 25 Apr. 2008. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Computers-And-Society/82629>
"Computers And Society." Essayworld.com. April 25, 2008. Accessed April 19, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Computers-And-Society/82629.
"Computers And Society." Essayworld.com. April 25, 2008. Accessed April 19, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Computers-And-Society/82629.
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