overview

precursors

switches

IBM

5 sisters

components

Apple

Microsoft

CRM

other software

open source










related:

Communication
revolutions

     overview

This note supplements material elsewhere on this site regarding the development of the global information infrastructure and online activity.

It covers -

• precursors - background writing about early computing, from Descartes through Babbage's mechanical Differential Engine to the work in the first half of last century by Turing, von Neumann and others
• switches and handsets - Ericsson, Nokia, ITT and other telephone equipment manufacturers
• IBM - the history of IBM
• the five sisters - or seven dwarfs - Hewlett Packard, SGI, Sperry, Data General and other hardware companies
• components
• Apple - the company that emphasised 'human-centred computing'
• Microsoft - the 1990s version of the 'Evil Empire', still struggling to grasp the web
• CRM
• other software - pointers to writing about other software companies and initiatives such as Xanadu
• open source and open publishing - Linux, GNU, open source and the 'information wants to be free' movement

   next page  (precursors)