Geek History

Welcome to Geek History:

In the 1950s, computers were enormous devices that filled entire rooms. They had a fraction of the power and processing ability you can find in a modern personal computer. These computers could only read magnetic tape or punch cards. So the idea of a smaller device that you could use at home was an idea that was far fetched. Until IBM came along and launched its first personal computer. IBM introduced it’s first personal computer based on Intel’s 8088 microprocessor. In this picture this model was designed with two five inch floppy disk drives, dot matrix printer and a monochrome monitor. When this computer hit the store shelves the cost range from $1500 -$4500.

That’s a lot of bytes!

The two Geeks in two words:

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs how can I define such intelligent and ambitious men- Role Model and Aggressive Businessman. These two men names are known throughout the world, leaders in the software development of Microsoft and Apple.

Here is an interesting article I found about the two men:

Friends:

During the early 80s, Microsoft was an important ally. Steve Jobs needed groundbreaking software for it’s upcoming hardware platform.Microsoft was one of the very few software companies developing and operating system for the platform.The strength that formed was introduced at a Internal Apple Event. In this meeting Steve Jobs introduced the Macintosh. “Bill Gates sugarcoated the Mac and Steve Jobs loved every moment of it.Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were so close at the time that according to a Guardian article, they even double-dated.

But all good things must end.

Rivals:

Steve Jobs had this dream where Apple would dominate the computer business and Microsoft would own the application-side of that business. The OS would naturally also by controlled by Apple.

But Bill Gates understood that the Graphical User Interface was the future of computing. He also knew that it would quickly make its DOS operating system irrelevant and threatened Microsoft to become (just) a software company dependent of Apple.

For years, Microsoft had engineers secretly copying the Macintosh OS and working on its own version of a Graphical OS: Windows. Not long after Steve Jobs learned that Microsoft wanted to compete with Apple and that Bill Gates deceived him.

For the next 15 years, Apple would engage in a strange relationship with Microsoft. On one end, Microsoft was prying market share away from Apple, on the other, it was one of its biggest partner. Steve Jobs would soon leave Apple and create NexT but would not succeed to make a dent in Microsoft’s dominance.

Along the way, Jobs often sparred with Microsoft, criticizing the company’s lack of creativity.

In a New York Times article Jobs disclosed that he called Gates afterward to apologize. But only to a degree.

”I told him I believed every word of what I’d said but that I never should have said it in public,” Jobs told the Times. ”I wish him the best, I really do. I just think he and Microsoft are a bit narrow. He’d be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger.”

The Internet Then and Now

Mention the history of the internet and chances are someone will comment about Al Gore claiming to have invented it. Gore actually said that he “took the initiative in creating the Internet.” The actual first idea or concept of the internet was during Dwight D. Eisenhower presidency. He initiated the ARPA ( Advanced Research Projects Agency) -a team of researches that built ARPANET, the earliest U.S. Internet. The idea of the internet originated from a mere satellite. In response to Russia’s man made satellite the Sputnik, president Eisenhower launched the ARPA in 1958 to give the United States a technological edge over other countries. ARPA created the first network, connecting four computers running on four different operating systems and called the network ARPANET. Without ARPANET, the Internet wouldn’t look or behave the way it does today — it might not even exist. Although other groups were working on ways to network computers, ARPANET established the protocols used on the Internet today.

Nowadays the Internet has increased its power from transferring information at 56 kilobytes per second to 7.6 megabytes per second. Users upload an average of 42,000 videos, create over 1.6 million Tumblr posts, type 6 million Tweets, and click over 2 million Facebook “likes” in just one hour. Even this infographic with its accompanying video is a prime example of the use and power of the Internet for the everyday user, and how the demand and capabilities will continue to grow exponentially in the coming years.

References:

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/internet-start.htm

http://www.socialnomics.net/2014/02/04/infographic-the-internet-then-and-now/

http://everystevejobsvideo.com/steve-jobs-bill-gates-and-microsoft-its-complicated/