Comparison (Argument) Outline Personal Computers Thesis: Personal computers today are by far superior to personal computers of 40 years ago. In today's society almost every American family owns at least one personal computer. The personal computer technology has grown greatly improving the personal computer industry. New models change every year. Each year more and more improvements are made. Personal computers today are by far superior to personal computers of 40 years ago. The operation of personal computers invented today is better than personal computers invented 40 years ago. Today's personal computers are easily set up. Just position on your desk and plug in a few cords. Push the power button and as if like magic you are looking at a display full of color. They are user friendly with "Plug-n-Play," you can just add devices and the operating system will automatically install the drivers. Just about every parent can purchase one for each of their children because of affordability. The memory is of the personal computer is upgradeable, instead of buying a whole new personal computer. On the other hand, personal computers 40 years ago were difficult to set up, difficult to operate, very expensive and only had 4K bytes of memory. You would have to run several cords and wires to setup all the components. It would only operate in a BASIC Dos environment and was so costly to upgrade to an expansion memory adapter, that it was less expensive to just buy the newest model. Drives on personal computers invented today are better than personal computers invented 40 years ago. Today's personal computers can be used with multiple media for entering programs. For example, compact disks, zip disks or a 3.5 inch floppy disk. The drives are condensed and fashionable in a tower or desk top case. They have dual density capability which runs high density, which holds 1.44 MB of data. The newest disks are called extended capacity and can hold 2.88 MB of data. On the other hand, personal computers 40 years ago used cassettes for entering programs. The cassette was placed into a tape recorder which was bulky and ugly. Some were designed to except an 8 inch floppy disk which only supported single density capability. The design of personal computers invented today is better than personal computers invented 40 years ago.
In 500 B.C. the abacus was first used by the Babylonians as an aid to simple arithmetic. In 1623 Wihelm Schickard (1592 - 1635) invented a "Calculating Clock". This mechanical machine could add and subtract up to 6 digit numbers, and warned of an overflow by ringing a bell. J. H. Mueller comes up with the idea of the "difference engine", in 1786. This calculator could tabulate values of a polynomial. Muellers attempt to raise funds fails and the project was forgotten. Scheutz and his son Edward produced a 3rd order difference engine with a printer in 1843 and their government agreed to fund their next project.
Let’s take a trip back in time and review the evolution of a computer company. It’s not IBM or Microsoft. This company is Apple Computers, Incorporated. In the year 1976, before most people even thought about buying a computer for their homes. Back then the computer community was only a few nerds building simple computers from hobby kits. When Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs sold a van and two programmable calculators for thirteen hundred dollars and started Apple Computers, Inc., in Jobs garage, the reach for success seemed far.
Born in the eighties, I entered a world of big hair and bad style. In the technological realm there were tape players, VCR’s, and fresh on the market: personal computers. Apple was domination the computer scene with their introduction of the Lisa computer. But not for long, soon computer technology would jump to unimaginable heights. As I grew up the technology around me would continue to grow and advance – quite rapidly I might add.
Another example of the change in our technology over the last century is the change in the computer. In 1946, the first electronic computer called the ENIAC took up the space of a large room. Instead of using transistors and IC chips, the ENIAC used vacuum tubes. Compared to many computers now, the ENIAC is about as powerful as a small calculator. That may not be much, but it is a milestone because there would not be computers today if it were not for the ENIAC. As the years passed, the computer became smaller and more powerful. Today, more than half of the American population has a computer in their home. The personal computers today are thousands of times more powerful than the most powerful computers fifty years ago.
“Computers play a key role in almost every sphere of life” (Berry, Terrie). Without them, everything would be different. People all around the world own or used a computer. Whether you are a professional in technology or just an average person, computers are still very important in your everyday life. “No other technology has accessed the world like computers and the use of the Internet have” (Maddox, Amanda). Without computers, consumers would not be able to do half the things as quickly as we can. Advances in computer design have increased its use for different industries, especially in the medical field.
Sadly, many people refuse to face the onslaught of computer technology. A 1994 survey conducted by Dell Computers indicated the 55% of Americans are phobic or resistant to computers (Column). In addition, many important people, including CEOÕs of major companies, are rumored to be computer illiterate (Column). The former CEO of IBM even admitted to never using a computer (Column). Fortunately, PC’s are becoming more and more user friendly as the technology improves. Fewer errors, less maintenance and quicker functioning should encourage many reluctant people to finally step into the new era.
Computers are changing the world as we know it, and they offer an exciting new way of working. The news represented a complete turnaround for the corporate giant. Microsoft Chairperson, Bill Gates publicly announced his company's new connection to the Internet. The announcement rang through the nation. Gates has consistently ignored the Internet in favor of desktop computing. So, with Microsoft's approval, computers kicked into even higher gear . The pace of innovation continues to astonish even those involved from the start. If one wants to find enthusiasm, intellect, hard work, and imagination; then computers is the place to be .
The First Generation of Computers The first generation of computers, beginning around the end of World War 2, and continuing until around the year 1957, included computers that used vacuum tubes, drum memories, and programming in machine code. Computers at that time where mammoth machines that did not have the power our present day desktop microcomputers. In 1950, the first real-time, interactive computer was completed by a design team at MIT. The "Whirlwind Computer," as it was called, was a revamped U.S. Navy project for developing an aircraft simulator.
The computer evolution has been an amazing one. There have been astonishing achievements in the computer industry, which dates back almost 2000 years. The earliest existence of the computer dates back to the first century, but the electronic computer has only been around for over a half-century. Throughout the last 40 years computers have changed drastically. They have greatly impacted the American lifestyle. A computer can be found in nearly every business and one out of every two households (Hall, 156). Our Society relies critically on computers for almost all of their daily operations and processes. Only once in a lifetime will a new invention like the computer come about.
Since the beginning of time, humans have thought and made many inventions. Repeatedly the newer one is better than the older. Our minds have created many remarkable things, however the best invention we ever created is the computer. computers are constantly growing and becoming better every day. Every day computers are capable of doing new things. Even though computers have helped us a lot in our daily lives, many jobs have been lost because of it, now the computer can do all of the things a man can do in seconds! Everything in the world relies on computers and if a universal threat happens in which all computers just malfunction then we are doomed. Computers need to be programmed to be able to work or else it would just be a useless chunk of metal. And we humans need tools to be able to live; we program the computer and it could do a lot of necessary functions that have to be done. It is like a mutual effect between us and he computer (s01821169 1).
Long ago, people were simple and didn’t have many technologies. They used to take so much time in planning their projects, researching, and saving and recording their studying. Look around, this world changed a lot. There are cars, airplanes, computers, and many other technologies. Technology can be found everywhere, and we use depend on it a lot. One of the most important technologies is computers and laptops. Many people use them today in their daily lives and it eases many things for them.
Thousands of years ago calculations were done using people’s fingers and pebbles that were found just lying around. Technology has transformed so much that today the most complicated computations are done within seconds. Human dependency on computers is increasing everyday. Just think how hard it would be to live a week without a computer. We owe the advancements of computers and other such electronic devices to the intelligence of men of the past.
The biggest and easiest seen change that computers have had on today’s society can be seen in the workplace. Before computers became an office tool and were made available to the average employee, paperwork and sharing information in an office setting was done by many different individuals constantly filing and looking up figures. Now a computer can store large amounts of information that is readily available to virtually anyone with the click of a mouse button. One person can complete a job that in a time before computers would take many. Computers have made file cabinets and libraries almost obsolete. Businesses can share information nation or even world wide in a matter of seconds. For example, a word document file can be sent from an office in New York to an office in Los Angeles in under a minute, in the past this same information would have taken a week to be sent through the mail. Computers have changed the way that factories are run too. On an assembly line, before computers every job, no matter how easy or difficult, had to be done by an employee. Now, however, computers run machines and do most of these tasks.
There is a need for more computers in everyday life, in homes, schools and on the job. The advancement of computer technology today in all facets of the world, and life are growing to the point that everyone will need a computer to carry out their everyday life. Computer technology today is at the threshold of making life easier for everyone in the world.
Ever since computers first came into production, they have been evolving. The Commodore 64 and Apple computers have dominated the very first computer market. Today, there are many companies in the computer industry fighting for technology supremacy. And since the beginning, every new generation of computers has dominatedover the old ones. When they first came out, each jump in technology took awhile, but nowadays, the technology changes daily. Fifth generation computers are overall much better than the previous generation.