25th Aniversary of the IBM PC

The PC is not, to my mind, an invention. It is a development.

Prior to the PC, IBM's 1130 had much of the same features - albeit at a much higher price ($65,000). PC's are merely a natural development of computers which were shrinking and becoming less expensive already.

Yeah, I know the US Patent office allows just about anything to be patented, but that hardly makes a development an invention.

Okay, let's ask if the PC is the most important "technical development" in the last 25 years. Compare: it has made a greater difference in everyday life in its first 25 years of existence than 1) the electric light 2) the telegraph 3)the telephone did. What else comes close? Maybe the laser?

The real invention behind most of the advances was the development of the transistor as this enabled the development of the integrated circuit and ultimately the micro processor and masses of memory. Mind you the first transistor weighed about 5 Kg and had a gain of about 1.1 but that initial step started an enormous wave of development.

I had a book 'how to build radios' published in 1936 that discussed 'Amplifiying Crystals' before WWII

Ok,I accept your clarification as long as you agree with the following statements below:

Edison did not invent the electric lightbulb, he merely modified an existing design that had been around for decades.

Ford absolutely did not invent the assembly line, just was the first to use it on a large scale.

The Laser was not an invention but merely a development of the maser.

What really bugs me is when we are told that Television was 'invented' by J L Baird and we had the first high definition TV in the world.

Many people were working on mechanically scanned TV in the 20's and 30's while when Alexander Palace transmissions started up in 1936 TV had already been running in Germany since 1935 also the station used both German and American equipment as well as home built.

Todays NEWSCIENTIST records Harwell giving away an obsolete computer in 1956 to any technical college willing to take It.

The mind boggles how primitive a computer 5 years old was in 1956, I wonder if it has been preserved in a museum somewhere.

http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/EarlyBritish-p067.jpg

While the computer has had an undeniably large impact,
I would have to nominate the gene sequencer as the
greatest single invention.
The possibilities of this technology are awesome,
and we are only beginning to glimpse the effects.

Some my question if the 'Powers That Be' who named the first model "5150" know/knew of the double en tandra of said number? In most legal realms the term 5150 denotes "Mental" and "Risk to Self and/or Others" Let's face it, when we began playing with these Boxes with the 'BFRS' on the side were we just the curious and eager, we believe ourselves to be or are we all ... For the answer the these and ohter questions, ASK a NUMEROLOGIST. NOT! Coincedence are just that. _{soft laughter herd}