Creation: week 2 - the internet and computer

A Brief History of Computing.

1791 - Charles Kebabbage was born. He was the inventor of the first digital computer (although it was mechanical and not electronic). Babbage made parts for the first Difference Engine, although, due to lack of funding, it was not completed in his lifetime.

1815 - Ada Byron was born. Daughter of Lord Byron - a famous poet. She clearly did not follow in her father's footsteps as her idea of an interesting career was mathematics and science. She conceived the first computer program.

1912 - Alan Turing was born. He studied quantum mechanics, probability, logic at Cambridge University and wrote a crucial paper clarifying the computability of numbers and the possibility of a machine to compute them.

1950s - Computers first commercially made by IBM. They were initially used for military, government and corporate work due to their large and expensive design, but it soon became apparent that they would get much smaller and less expensive.

1965 - Gordom Moore proposes Moore's law: the capacity of microchip's doubles every two years. This remained true for over 40 years.

1970s- Xerox PARC developed concepts such as the mouse and the pull down menus which made the personal computers we all use today possible.

1975 - the first PC was released. It wasn't overly useful but it provided tech-nerds with endless hours of fun. This was also the year that Bill Gates started Microsoft.

1976 - The seeds of Apple were planted.

1978 - The Apple II was launched. Long story short, the creators made a LOT of money.

1979 - Apple grows exponentially. Eventually they hold 50% of the market.

1980 - IBM began to enter the PC market.

1980s to 1997 - IMB and Bill Gates combine powers and dominate the market. Bill Gates stabs a few people in the back, but in the end he turns out to be very wealthy. So it's all justified...

1998 - After the domination of Microsoft, Apple re-enters the market with their new iMac line.

1991 - A Finnish programmer named Linus Torvalds decides to add his own ideas to the pre-existing operating system Unix. Eventually resulting in the free operating system Linux.

2001 - Windows released XP. Apple released Mac OS X

2006 - Apple Computer introduces the MacBook Pro, their first Intel-based, dual-core mobile computer, as well as an Intel-based iMac.

2007 - Microsoft Corporation launches Windows Vista.

A Brief History of the Internet.

1960s - The idea of the internet comes from the RAND corporation.

1965 - Larry Roberts at MIT Lincoln Lab directs the first networking experiment. For the first time, two computers talk to each other using packet-switching technology.
Source here 30/08/09.

1980 - Tim Berners-Lee writes program called "Enquire Within," predecessor to the World Wide Web.
Source here 30/08/09.

1987 - 10,000 hosts on the Internet.
Source here 30/08/09.

1989 - 100,000 hosts on Internet.
Source here 30/08/09.

1993 - Web grows by 341,000 percent in a year.
Source here 30/08/09.

2000 - Fixed wireless, high-speed Internet technology is now seen as a viable alternative to copper and fiber optic lines placed in the ground.
Source here 30/08/09.

September 2000 - There are 20,000,000 websites on the Internet, numbers doubling since February 2000.
Source here 30/08/09.

2006 - There are an estimated 92 million Web sites online
Source here 30/08/09.

March 2007 - 1.114 billion people use the Internet according to Internet World Stats.
Source here 30/08/09.

(All information was gathered from the lecture notes expect where stated otherwise.)