PROFILES OF THE PC PIONEERS:
INVENTING THE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR THE INFORMATION ERA
By
Demirdjian, Z. S.
California State University, Long Beach
zdemirdj@ csulb.edu
Tel. (562) 985-4764 Fax. (562) 985-5543
ABSTRACT
It has been oftentimes hackneyed that Rome was not built in a day, so was not
the invention of the personal computer by a single stroke of genius. The
personal computer, like Rome, has evolved into being a potent and a pervasive
machine from humble beginnings. Contrary to popular beliefs, there is no one
single person who could be called the father of PC, but rather a number of
inventors who toyed and others scrabbled with esoteric contraptions which had,
by today's standards, the genetic potential of the larva and the speed of the
snail. The PC had to undergo many, albeit short, metamorphoses. A spellbindingly
beautiful butterfly finally hatched. The confluence of the pioneering works of a
community of early inventors have finally engineered the infrastructure for
today's modern information superhighway. A salutary account of these early
pioneers are presented in this study to demystify the origins of the PC to those
students and others who consider one or two individuals are the bona fide
fathers of the innovation.
INTRODUCTION
Although the Personal Computer (PC) has a relatively very short history, many
take it for granted that it was invented in Silicone Valley. A survey of 220
students has substantiated this assumption. An exploratory survey study has
indicated disconcerting findings. Over ninety percent (90%) of the students
queried think that the PC was the product of the 1980s and only a handful could
identify Charles Babbage or Vannevar Bush as inventors of the computer. While
such beliefs are harmless, it distorts the genealogical record of an invention,
which is touching virtually every aspect of our personal, social, and
professional lives. Our students should learn that the PC was a toy or a
miniature version of the mainframe computer mutated into the ultimate desktop
information processing machine.
Did it take a village to conceive the personal computer? Or was there a single
father of the PC? A review of the literature failed to disclose of any
definitive work done on the pedigree of the PC spanning from the beginning to
the present time on the machine that ushered in the powerful information
revolution. It did, however produce some conflicting views: some contend that
the PC was invented in the 1980s; while others, like Bill Gates, gives the
credit to Vannevar Bush's invention in 1940s as being the "•riginal Internet
PC." Phlipson (2002) aptly reminds us that "Too many people ignore the history
of the computer industry. It is as fascinating, or even more so, than the
history of any other aspect of humanity." Understanding the true background
history of the PC would make students as well as scholars appreciate its
development into an inseparably integral part of our daily lives around the
globe. Also, for fairness sake, credit should be given to
those who have actually earned it through their own innovations rather than by
their enterprising business talents alone.
Chronological history listing of the computers is daunting. Students would
abandon ship at their mere sights. The main purpose of this paper is, therefore,
to build a simple, uncluttered "family tree" of the PC and thus give a brief
window on the conception, development, and growth of the PC by its most
important trailblazers whose contributions have been groundbreaking. First, the
early "tinkers" of computers are presented. Secondly, the entrepreneurs and the
improvisers of 1970s are discussed, followed by an introduction to the tycoon
builders of the best sellers of 1980s. Finally, some recommendations are made to
create student awareness and knowledge of the progenitors of the PC.
THE EARLY "TINKERS" OF COMPUTERS
The computers that we use today came into being after a long journey. The voyage
started in about 3000 B.C. with the invention of the abacus in Babylonia (Pullan
1969). It proceeded through the development of the vacuum tubes, transistors,
integrated circuits, microprocessors and countless other inventions until the
computer of today. The abacus, palpable of the presence of the past, is still
used in Asia. Although there were other inventions between the abacus and the
early computer such as the Mechanical Calculator of Leonardo da Vinci, the
Arithmetic Machine of Blaise Pascal (Payen 1963), and the first punch cards for
storing data by Joseph-Marie Jacquard (Augarten 1984), Charles Babbage and
Vannevar Bush's inventions standout as creative landmarks.
Charles Babbage (1791 - 1871) has been a multitalented person during the
Industrial Revolution in England. Babbage's greatest achievement was his
detailed plans for Calculating Engines, both the table-making Difference Engines
and the far more ambitious Analytical Engines. The latter were flexible and
powerful, punched card controlled, general-purpose calculators, possessing many
features which later appeared in the modern stored program computer. Some of
these features included punched card control, separate store and mill, a set of
internal registers, fast multiplier/divider, a range of peripherals, and even
array processing. Babbage's invention, albeit crude and clumsy, marks the
serious beginnings of the computer (Augarten 1984).
According to Hyman (1982), Babbage's plans first served as a muse to other
inventors for the planned devices were not built yet. Some twenty-five years
ago, Anthony Hyman and Maurice Trask (Hyman 1989) carefully investigated the
question and concluded that Babbage's Engines would have been quite possible.
Allan Bromley (Phlipson 2002) built a complete version of DE2 (Difference
Engine). The result was a triumphant success, vindicating Babbage's work as
being a valid invention designed to advance our computing needs. Thus, Babbage
deservedly earned the title of being the "father" of the computer (Hyman 1989)
Another illustrious "tinker" is Dr. Vannevar Bush who invented the "memex"
machine in 1945. According to Gates (1999), the idea of an information-producing
tool is not a new one. It goes back to Dr. Bush, Director of the U.S. Office of
Scientific Research and Development during World War II. Dr. Bush predicted the
development of a device in which one could store all one's books, records, and
communications and call up the data on a screen. Although Bush's memex is a big
physical desk and microfilm storage operated by physical levers, it was a new
device that stored and organized all our information.
Because of his machine, Bush described (in the mechanistic terms of 1945
technology) the multimedia PC connected to the Web. He even went so far to
predict the equivalent of Internet search engines. Therefore, Dr. Bush's memex,
though based on the microfiche technology of the 1940s, anticipated correctly
the idea of a PC connected to the Internet. He further maintained that such
connectivity would enable one to hold vast amounts of data and use links to
connect all information related to a topic. Today, Forcier and Descy (2002) hail
the computer as an educational tool for productivity and problem solving. Owning
to his insights, Dr. Bush has been dubbed as the Godfather of the PC (Gates
1999).
Both Charles Babbage and Vannevar Bush's inventions have been fertile spawning
grounds for new ideas and concepts for many years. Amazingly enough, their
inventions had embodied most of the features that are found today on the
Personal Computers of the young entrepreneurs and the improvisers of 1970s.
THE ENTREPRENEURS AND THE IMPROVISERS OF 1970s
Although Charles Babbage and Vannevar Bush are considered to be the true
pioneers of the computer, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs are the Young Turks who
made it possible to market the personal computer by improvising on the large and
clumsy machines of yesteryears.
Gold (1994) called Steve Wozniak the "Wizard of Woz" for single-handedly
designing an entire personal computer (i.e., Apple 1). Later, he also designed
the Apple 11 and wrote the software to make it run. Legend has it that it was
not the money he was after since there was no fortunes to be made in personal
computers in the mid-1970s. Endowed with boundless intellect and curiosity,
Wozniak designed his computer from passion, anxious to see how well he could
achieve his plans. His overriding belief as a design engineer, while still at
Hewlett Packard at that time, was that "simple and cheaper" is better. As a
result, he started with the cheapest chips he could find, and a $20
microprocessor for the brain, he built an affordable personal computer. Thus, he
became known as the "Genius of Apple." He is still "fathering" the personal
computer revolution.
While Steve Wozniak is the brain behind the PC, Steve Jobs is the master of
entrepreneurship. In 1976, Steve Jobs at 21 and Steve Wozniak at 26 founded the
Apple Computer Company in the Jobs' family garage. Jobs was instrumental in
making the company go public at $22 a share, making the partners instant
millionaires. Carlton and Kawasaki (1997) wrote that within five years The Apple
Company's sales rose to $300 million, a feat of a record which catapulted the
fledgling company into the ranks of the Fortune 500.
Being marketing oriented, two years after building the Apple I, Jobs introduced
the Apple H, which was considered the best buy for home and small business use.
Having a sense for market segmentation, he later in 1984 introduced Macintosh
which was marketed towards medium and large businesses. With the engineering
talents of Wozniak and the entrepreneurial leadership of Jobs, the personal
computer went through many changes until 1985 when Wosniak resigned and thus
paved the road to the company's decline. According to Cringely (1996), without
Steve Wozniak's passion for electronic gadgets and without Steve Jobs market
orientation, the PC would not have gained dominance in the classroom, at home,
at the office, and with the government agencies. Augarten (1984) declared that
the invention of the computer was one of the greatest achievements of the 20"
century, "...but, it wasn't until the development of the personal computer in
mid-1970s that the magnificent promise inherent in this machine was fulfilled."
THE TYCOON BUILDERS OF THE BEST SELLERS OF 1980s
With the Intel's constant improvement in the microprocessors, the personal
computer became more and more attractive for its growing household, research,
and business users. Although the acceptance of the personal computer was
increasing, the curve was not moving upward at an increasing rate (Roblyer
1992). The PC was not yet friendly to millions of people for it required verbal
commands to operate it. With Bill Gates' operating system (i.e., Windows), the
popularity of the PC soared.
Bill Gates is at the center stage of the PC revolution. The world has seen a
computer revolution in the last two decades. The crusader of this happening has
been Bill Gates. He is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft
Corporation, the largest software producer in the world. Because of his talents
and diligence, Bill Gates has become a billionaire at the age of thirty-one,
making him the youngest person ever to achieve this feat of accomplishment. With
his invention of Windows operating system, the PC is now cable of carrying out
many tasks with ease and high speed.
While Bill Gates made PC popular with the general public, Larry Ellison has
become a crusader in the revolution of business programs for success. Ellison
has been CEO of Oracle Corporation since he founded the company in 1977. He has
succeeded in making Oracle the world's leading supplier of software for
information management and the world's second largest independent software
company. Although Oracle now is stuck in the doldrums, the company under the
leadership of its CEO made applications programs popular with all kinds of
business firms. His ambition and talents enabled him to build an empire in the
information technology industry. His company's innovative softwares, have made
the computer popular for business use ever since Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs
had marketed the streamlined computer known today as the desktop PC.
Currently, Ellison is doing his best to make things better for customers. The
hosting alternative eliminates headaches for customers. Currently, he is
promoting a new database technology called "rapid application
clustering." The big idea behind this application is that a bunch of databases
can run on smaller computers and act like one big database. It has been promoted
as less expensive because it runs on smaller, cheaper computers. The system is
more dependable since if one computer conks out, the others keep running. He
always had many software inventions up his sleeves to render the PC more
productive and user-friendly.
Based on our preceding explorations of the developments in the invention of the
computer, it would be safe to conclude that it did take a village to create the
personal computer "bit by bit." In essence though, the kudos go to only a
handful of resourceful individuals who took quantum leaps to make it possible
for us to enjoy today
a tool which is pervasively used in our daily personal, social, and professional
lives. Therefore, presenting the PC pioneers would be uncomplicated as is listed
in Table 1.
By distilling the long list of inventors into a few outstanding movers and
shakers who have played pivotal roles in ushering in the information revolution,
Charles Babbage has been ranked as the undisputed father of the computer. On the
other hand, Vannevar Bush has been dubbed as the godfather of the PC since his
memex machine was small like today's desktop computer and it had many features
of the present PC. Since Steve Wozniak conceived and produced an affordable and
a practical PC, he has been hailed as the "Wizard of Woz" for fathering the
practical PC. Unlike Steve Wozniak, an engineer by profession, Steve Jobs'
contribution lay in his entrepreneurial talents of getting the "practical" PC to
the market. Bill Gates' operating system has revolutionized the PC and made it
largely a user-friendly tool; therefore, he has eared the distinction of being
the father of the computer operating system. In many ways, Larry Ellison has
contributed, like Bill Gates, to the use of the computer largely by business
firms by providing them with management information software. Ellison,
therefore, has been called the father of the business application programs.
Table 1
THE OUTSTANDING PIONEERS OF THE PERSONAL COMPUTER
CHARLES BABBAGE - The Father of the Computer
VANNEVAR BUSH - The Godfather of the PC
STEVE WOZNIAK - The Father of the Practical PC
STEVE JOBS- The Step-Father (!?)* of the Apple PCs
BILL GATES - The Father of the Operating System
LARRY ELLISON - The Father of the Business Programs
*Steve Jobs is considered to be more of an entrepreneurial genius than an
accomplished inventor.
Heroes of the personal computer revolution such as Vannevar Bush, Steve Wozniak,
Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and others have made the personal computer
possible. Their stories, especially the inclusion of their successes other than
their inventions, would also interest students a great deal. For example, the
phenomenal success of Bill Gates would be a source of inspiration to young minds
everywhere in the world.
RECOMMENDATIONS
History is the foundation of our understanding the culture of technology. No
understanding of the present can be complete without an understanding of the
past. Only by examining the history of an invention can we make sense out of its
modern usage and far-reaching influence on our culture. Throughout the history
of a technology, one finds that many people may have contributed to the
culmination of a final product. While a lengthy discussion may bore students,
highlighting the major players in the invention of the PC would be interesting
as well as educational as each inventor in Table 2 was discussed briefly.
Table 2
PROFILES OF THE PC PIONEERS: INVENTING THE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR THE INFORMATION
ERA
1. THE EARLY "TINKERS" OF THE PC
A. Babbage: The Clumsy Calculating Machine B. Vannevar Bush: The Original
Internet PC
II. THE ENTREPRENEURS AND THE IMPROVISERS OF 1970s
A. Steve Wozniak: Conceiving the Practical PC. B. Steve Jobs: The
Entrepreneurial Passion Behind the PC
III. THE TYCOON BUILDERS OF THE BEST SELLERS OF 1980s
A. Bill Gates: Creating the Operating System for the PC B. Larry Ellison:
Business Programs for Success
Like the wheel, almost every human endeavor has benefited from the invention of
the PC. As educators, we need to provide our students with the provenance
surrounding the early inventions in an attempt to increase their appreciation
and understanding of the omnipresent PC. In exploring inventions, often the
makers are more interesting than their machines. The idea is, therefore, to
present students with a small dosage of history of the PC pioneers, lest we bore
them with too many smaller inventors and with two many minor, tangential
inventions. Thus, to avoid the incidence of information overload, which is
usually dreaded by students as the plague, Table 2 highlights only the major
pioneers and their greatest contributions to the creation of the computer, which
is clearly the most influential invention of all time.
Although the PC is still in its infancy, the promises of this technology
outweighs head and shoulders above its present accomplishments as is astutely
captured in the following remark:
Technology is reshaping this economy and transforming businesses and consumers.
This is about more than e-commerce, or e-mail, or e-trades, or e-files. It is
about the "e" in economic opportunity.
--William M. Daley, Former U.S. Commerce Secretary
REFERENCES
Augarten, Stan. Bit by Bit: An Illustrated History of Computers. New York:
Ticknor & Fields, 1984. Carton, Jim and Guy Kawasaki. Apple: The Inside Story of
Intrigue, Egomania, and Business Blunders. New York: Random House, 1997.
Cringely, Robert X. "Triumph of the Nerds," a documentary based on his book,
Accidental Empires Revisited: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their
Millions, Battle Foreign Competition and Still Can't Get Date, which aired on 12
June 1996 on PBS.
Forcier, Richard C. and Don E. Descy. The Computer As An Educational Tool. Upper
Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc., 2002.
Gates, Bill (with Collins Hemingway), Business cQ The Speed of Thought: Using a
Digital Nervous System. Warner Books, A Time Warner Company, 1999.
Gold, Rebecca. Steve Wozniak, Genius of Apple - Still Fathering the Computer.
Lerner Publications Company, September 1994.
Phlipson, Graeme. "IT Pioneer: Allan Bromley Dead at 55." (10/09/2002)
http://www2.idg.com.au/infoagel.nsf/0
Hyman, Anthony. Charles Babbage, Pioneer of the Computer. Princeton/Oxford
University Press, 1982. Hyman, Anthony. Science and Reform, Selected Works of
Charles Babbage. Princeton/Oxford University, 1989.
Payen, Jacques. "Les Exemplaires Conserves de la Machine de Pascal." Revue
d'Histoire des Sciences et de Leurs Applications, April 1963.
Pullan, J. M. The History of the Abacus. New York: Praeger, 1969.
Roblyer, M. D. Computers in Education. In G. Bitner (Ed.), Macmillan
Encyclopedia of Computers. New York: Macmillan, 1992.
<<<<<<--------BACK-----<<<<<<<