60 years of computing
February 13, 2006Hard to imagine that it’s been 60 years since ENIAC was unveiled to the world. 1946 to 2006, how far we’ve come in 60 years of computing.
Strictly speaking, ENIAC wasn’t the first machine worthy of the name “computer”. Certainly the super-secret Colossus that helped the Brits crack German codes qualifies as a computer, but it was top secret during the war and for many years after. ENIAC was the machine that grabbed popular attention. Putting the blinking lights on it was the marketing stroke of genius that will forever link ENIAC with the dawn of the computing era.
Those early pioneers could never have imagined the revolution they were unleashing. Two generations later the computer, and its offspring the Internet, have completely changed the world. I for one am completely and utterly beholden to the computer–my job, my profession, are all based on having computers. And I know I’m not alone, there’s millions of people who’d be doing something much less fun for work if it weren’t for computers.
Raise a glass to toast the diamond anniversary of the modern computer.
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