Personal computer and its trends

The first personal computer (PC) was put on the market in 1975.

Today the personal computer can serve as a work station for the individual. Moreover, just as it has become financially feasible to provide a computer for the individual worker, so also technical developments have made the interface between man and machine increasingly “friendly”, so that a wide array of computer functions are now accessible to people with no technical background.

A personal computer is a small computer based on a microprocessor; it is a microcomputer. Not all microcomputers, however, are personal computers. A microcomputer can be dedicated to a single task such as controlling a machine tool or metering the injection of fuel into an automobile engine; it can be a word processor, a video game or a “pocket computer” that is not quite a computer. A personal computer is something different: a stand-alone computer that puts a wide array of capabilities at the disposal of an individual.

The first generation of true personal computers, which came on the market between 1977 and 1981, had eight-bit microprocessor chips available, and soon they were included in complete computer systems. As for clock frequency, the trend has been from one megahertz (one million cycles per second) a few years ago to 10 megahertz or more today.

The earliest computers were developed during the Second World War for specific defense applications – some of the first computers were used to calculate artillery firing coordinates – these systems did not become commercially marketable for a number of reasons: they were special-purpose, designed for military applications; they were extremely large, occupying huge warehouses; they consumed enormous amounts of electricity, generated immense amounts of heat, required tons of chilled air, and broke down every few hours.

The first commercial systems were installed in the 1950s and ran such “business” applications as accounting, billing and payroll and inventory control. This was a logical first step in the application of computers to solve business-related problems.

These early computer system processed data in batches, that is, they executed one program at a time and handled transactions (say, an accounting entry, such as payment of a bill) one at a time from a predefined sequence of transactions. They required considerable amounts of manual intervention and the applications they performed were limited in scope.

The computers of the 1950s also tended to be physically large, internally slow, and somewhat unreliable in terms of system availability. They used vacuum tubes which limited their price-performance ratio and, thus, both the numbers and kinds of applications that were run on them.

The next major advance in systems came in the early 1960s, with the invention of the transistor and its implementation in the next generation of computers.

These systems were smaller, faster and more reliable.

In the 1970s, the arrival of integrated circuitry resulted in fast and reliable computer systems. Advances in operating systems technology precipitated the rapid spread of multi-user systems, and data communications systems enabled more and more applications to be accessed from remote locations by employees working at CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) terminals. The applications began to provide information that resulted in a wide range of benefits, from significantly improved customer service to tighter management control over widely dispersed operations and functions.

In the 1980s, the microcomputer brought low-cost computer power to virtually anyone who wishes to use it.

In the decade of 1990s, administrative applications evolved into tools for the strategic use of an organization’s information assets to create a competitive advantage for the organization. Advances in electronic technology improved the cost-performance of computer systems; they continued to shrink in size and increase in power.

Words:

A wide array of computer functions – широкий спектр функций компьютера

Accessible – доступный

Technical background – техническое образование

Capability – способность

Disposal – размещение, устранение

Implementation – оборудование