About two years ago I visited the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. It was an terrific way of seeing the origins of the industry & how we got here. They were about to close for a re-design that would take around a year and a half to complete. Today I finally got back.
First of all, It took me 3½ hours to go through the museum, & that included an overpriced oversized sandwich & rushing through the last few galleries. It starts out with a section devoted to calculating devices from pre-20th century. Things like the abucus (which I still have never figured out), Russian & German devices & of course, the slide rule. Then it moves on to calculating machines devised by various mechanical thinkers.
Then we get to the 20th century. The majority of space in this museum is taken up by WWII & post war computers. Card punch readers, the Eniac & Univac & various IBM devices of varying sizes. We're talking about computers the size of a room. One interesting reference was Cray building a device many times faster than the competing IBM machine & Thomas Watson, Jr, the IBM chairman complaining about being beaten by a company with "34 employees including the janitor", or words to that effect. Really interesting stuff. Then a section on the transistor, which led to the integrated circuit.
There's a section on early computer games, a an area devoted to the Homebrew Computer Club, which was a place for hobbyists to get together. This is where the Apple originally came from as the two Steves were members. Also there is a letter from Bill Gates who was upset because the members werre giving each other copies of BASIC, Gates original program. He complained about this stating he wanted his money. Yes it makes him look greedy, but as is pointed out in a video, had it continued this way no one would have created software. No market. Thus by patenting & paying it created a software industry which led to today.
Just a small area with early machines like the Altair & the Commodore & a few mice. Including a video showing usage of an early one with the creator saying he didn't know why they called it that, but it stuck. I suspect they are more intersted in the past since we know the present, but very few if any cell phones & only a single iPod. Maybe this will be expanded in the future. It's a huge exhibit, but still only takes up the first floor of what used to be a software headquarters new Shoreline Ampitheater. I say check it out. There is also an online museum I will have to check out.
First of all, It took me 3½ hours to go through the museum, & that included an overpriced oversized sandwich & rushing through the last few galleries. It starts out with a section devoted to calculating devices from pre-20th century. Things like the abucus (which I still have never figured out), Russian & German devices & of course, the slide rule. Then it moves on to calculating machines devised by various mechanical thinkers.
Then we get to the 20th century. The majority of space in this museum is taken up by WWII & post war computers. Card punch readers, the Eniac & Univac & various IBM devices of varying sizes. We're talking about computers the size of a room. One interesting reference was Cray building a device many times faster than the competing IBM machine & Thomas Watson, Jr, the IBM chairman complaining about being beaten by a company with "34 employees including the janitor", or words to that effect. Really interesting stuff. Then a section on the transistor, which led to the integrated circuit.
There's a section on early computer games, a an area devoted to the Homebrew Computer Club, which was a place for hobbyists to get together. This is where the Apple originally came from as the two Steves were members. Also there is a letter from Bill Gates who was upset because the members werre giving each other copies of BASIC, Gates original program. He complained about this stating he wanted his money. Yes it makes him look greedy, but as is pointed out in a video, had it continued this way no one would have created software. No market. Thus by patenting & paying it created a software industry which led to today.
Just a small area with early machines like the Altair & the Commodore & a few mice. Including a video showing usage of an early one with the creator saying he didn't know why they called it that, but it stuck. I suspect they are more intersted in the past since we know the present, but very few if any cell phones & only a single iPod. Maybe this will be expanded in the future. It's a huge exhibit, but still only takes up the first floor of what used to be a software headquarters new Shoreline Ampitheater. I say check it out. There is also an online museum I will have to check out.
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