Computers - Page 1

Past, Present & Future

Computers have been around many centuries however

the electronic computers have only been in existence
for the last 50 years and have changed rapidly in this
time in design, function and purpose.
Computers were originally developed to help do tasks
faster than what a human could however in time they
have a whole range of functions spanning from defence
systems to watching movies to socialising.
Computers were mainly used in business to help with
collaborative working and to produce work more effi-
ciently however computers are so small nowadays and
cheap to manufacture many households own at least
one computer in the form of a desktop computer or a
laptop.
Computers will defiantly change in the near future as
new technology is researched and existing technology
is improved as well as improvements to software and
the internet.

Computers – Page 2

The history of computers and computer technology thus

far has been a long and a fascinating one, stretching
back more than half a century to the first primitive com-
puting machines. These machines were huge and com-
plicated affairs, consisting of row upon row of vacuum
tubes and wires, often encompassing several rooms to
fit it all in and usually only did one function.
Computers have changed rapidly over the decades
since 1941 when the Zese Z3 was developed in Ger-
many. Up till the 19th century the computer was consid-
ered as a means to solve calculations and perform
unique tasks in a much shorter time scale to what a hu-
man could however in the 19th century the computer
took on its more familiar meaning.
The first programmable computers were known as the
Colossus and were used during World War 2 to perform
calculations. They used vacuumed tubes to do this and
were electronically powered and were still very bulky. A
later development was the US-built ENIAC which was
5000 times faster than the colossus and could do many
calculations at once, a feature that the colossus lacked.
There were then 3 Generations of com-
puters up till the current day and many
developments occurred such as the re-
placing of vacuum tubes for transistors,
the development of platforms such as
MS: DOS Which then evolved to Micro-
soft's graphical interfaces such as Win-
dows XP. „

Computers – Page 3

There is only 365 Million computers in the world which

isn't a lot compared to the worlds population. A huge
majority of them at located in the developed world (UK,
USA, France etc...).

Today Computers have huge storage space, fast proc-

essing speeds and can do multiple tasks at once while
been easy to use and easy to move around.

Windows Operating system now dominates the Com-

puting world with 91% of all computers using a type of
windows whenever it be Windows vista, windows 7 or
an older version. Mac OS is the second biggest Operat-
ing and is preferred by designers for its multimedia de-
vices.

Computer systems are now incorporated into many

other areas of the current world such as the military,
film industry and cars to help do tasks that are impossi-
ble without computer technology.

Computers are used for a range of tasks compared with

2 decades ago when they were primarily used to per-
form complex calculations. Some of the functions of
computers today are as followed.

• Access the World wide web via the internet

• Advertise products
• Simulate Situations

Computers – Page 4

The potential for computers in the future is incredible

large as what people would consider as „sci-fi technol-
ogy‟ is been researched and tested in the real world.
There is no surprise why companies such as Microsoft
wish to invest massive amounts of money into this tech-
nology as the benefits are huge.

One area of technology currently been implemented is

artificial intelligence (AI), where a system could identify
a problem and overcome it using a wide variety of solu-
tions. This currently is not the case however speech
recognition is a form of AI and is been used by the military.
Robot technology has also come a long way, but it still
has a long way to go. Robots in the future are unlikely
to take human form, except in a few specialized appli-
cations such as the building industry. Instead, robots
are likely to do a great deal of work that is simply too
dangerous for humans to accomplish. From space
flight
applications to Search and rescue.

Nanotechnology is another important part of the

future
of computers, expected to have a profound impact
on
people around the globe. Nanotechnology is the
proc-
ess whereby matter is manipulated at the atomic
level,
providing the ability to “build” objects from their
most
basic parts. This has along way to go in terms of
re-
search and probable wont have any Practical impact on
the planet for many decades to come as the technology
to build the Nanobots currently does not exist.