From punch cards to touch screens: discover the pivotal moments that shaped how we interact with technology
Curated by Zvonimir Fras
A set of computers developed by British codebreakers in the years 1943-1945 to help in the cryptanalysis of the Lorenz cipher.
ENIAC was the first programmable, electronic, general-purpose digital computer, completed in 1945. There were other computers that had these features, but the ENIAC had all of them in one package. It was Turing-complete and able to solve "a large class of numerical problems" through reprogramming.
Henry Dreyfuss wrote a book called "Designing for people" in which he talked about his ideas related to the relationship between humans and machines, namely "fitting the machine to the man rather than the man to the machine"
The IBM 29 card punch and its companion, the IBM 59 card verifier, were used to record and check information in punched cards. The cards were then read and processed by a computer or an accounting machine.
Revolutionary computer collaboration system developed in the 1960s. Designed by Douglas Engelbart and implemented by researchers at the Augmentation Research Center (ARC) at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI), the NLS system was the first to employ the practical use of hypertext links, the mouse, raster-scan video monitors, information organized by relevance, screen windowing, presentation programs, and other modern computing concepts.
First Graphical User Interface (GUI)
Apple gave Xerox the opportunity to buy $1 million of Apple stock. (needs more info)
The first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible de facto standard. IBM recruited Charlie Chaplin to advertise their more approachable side. The IBM PC revolutionized business computing by becoming the first PC to gain widespread adoption by industry.
Development began in 1979. NASA used it on the Space Shuttle in early 1980s.
Portable computer that was like an IBM PC in a luggage form.
Window based system with icons. First version of Apple Macintosh operating system and the beginning of the classic Mac OS series. Even though other personal computers came before it, Macintosh changed the way people thought about personal computers.
IBM got a lot of competition from IBM-compatible devices so they came up with Micro Channel architecture, their own copyrighted standard - no longer compatible with their older versions. It backfired. Nine leading competitors created their own standard called Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA). EISA was compatible with previous versions and easily available for companies to purchase.
Mobile operating system that supported apps.
First personal digital assistant (PDA) to feature handwriting recognition. Had inconsistent results.
The first smartphone. First to include phone and PDA features in one device. It had a touchscreen.
During his time at Apple, Don Norman created the first "User Experience Architect" poistion. "It's the way you experience the world, it's the way you experience your life, it's the way you experience service.
The most notable was the inclusion of the "START" button which is still present in Windows 10
The iMac was drastically different from other existing mainstream computers. It was made with "nothing-to-hide" translucent plastic.
First phone with a front facing camera and the first mobile color videophone. It could send 2 photos per second via Japan's PHS network system
