a short history of computing and the internet.

"every abstract machine is linked to other abstract machines ... because their various types are as intertwined as their operations are convergent mechanosphere."
- Deleuze & guattari - A thousand plateaus.

This introduction from the words of Deleuze and guattari underlines how the DNA of each computer is passed on throughout each new generation, allthough they change in shape and more noticably size, each new computer contains parts of the last.

Charles Babbage, a 19th century inventor is credated with inventing the first computer, allthough it was a mechanical machine rather than a electronic one. The difference engine was designed to calculate and print mathematical tables. the first electronic computer is credited to the gemans, who in the second world war wanted to create uncrackable codes to keep their messages from reaching unwanted eyes. They called their creating enigma, which was only beaten by Bombe, a computer used by the brittish to counteract enigmas codes.

This leads on to after the second world war, where in the 1950's computers were finally being mass produced by IBM, however their price kept them from even the most elitest individuals, only governments, the military and corporate companies could afford them. Price was also, not the only factor keeping computers from the public, size, being that computers could only fit into a large room was another problem.

Fast forwarding 15 years to 1965, Moore predicted that the capacity of micro chips would double every two years, which so far has proved correct.

Another ten years of computers being only readily available to the public in universitys led to the release of the altair in 1975, which allthough was described as allmost useless without programs was widley accepted as a technological revolution, and a rather large unusual paper weight.
Bill Gates saw this gap and created BASIC for the Altair, meaning one could use it for word processing, basic accounting and games, so forth microsoft was created and remains one of the biggest names in computers today.

At the same time ideas for apple were brewing where steve jobs and steve wozniak became friends at a backyard computer catchup. Creating apple, they had the mission of creating computers for not only techices but the general public, who were more interested in software and its possibilities.

This brings us to today, where apple and microsoft continue to fight it out for the top position, and computers are becoming smaller and ever more integrated into our lives.