1st Generation (1940-1956) Vacuum Tubes
2nd Gen. (1956-1963) Transistors
3rd Gen. (1964-1971) Integrated Circuits
4th Gen. (1971-Present) Microprocessors
5th Gen. (Present and Beyond) Artificial Intelligence, Quantum computing, nanotechnology, etc.
Comparisons among Generations:
E.g. of an early computer :
UNIVAC (1951) , First commercially available computer
• Weighed 13 Tons
• Total system used 35.5 m² of space
• Computational power equivalent to a modern $15 dollar calculator
• Cost $1,500,000 to purchase
• Consumed 125000 Watts of power
E.g. of an early Personal computer :
Commodore PET (1977) , First complete PC
• Can fit on a desk
• RAM: Up to 32KB
• Had up to 7.5MB storage memory
• Rudimentary display, mostly text but allowed simple games like Space Invaders
• Cost up to $4000
Modern Desktop PC :
• RAM: Up to 16GB (524,000X increase)
• Have up to 2TB storage memory in a single Hard drive (280,000X Increase)
• Vibrant displays, user friendly & intuitive interfaces and near photo-realistic games
• Cost up to $1250
• Up to 10,000X computational power
• 128GB thumb drives are available
Recently even a consumer graphics card (Ati HD5870) costing $400 has the same computational power as a multimillion dollar supercomputer from 10 years ago!!
Key factor in growth: Doubling in performance every 1.5 years:
• Shrinking of Transistor sizes
• Improvements in chip architecture and system design
• Or use less power, run cooler and at lower cost
• Allow to use portable Notebooks, Netbooks & Pocket PC
Future of computing is in Quantum computing where individual atoms are used for calculations and has the potential to be MILLIONS of times faster than our fastest supercomputers now
Link: Allowed software to expand in functionality and user-friendliness which allowed it to do more things and allow more people to use it
Impact and role in modern Society:
1) Work
E.g. of work at home:
• Microsoft office
• Editing of pictures and video
• Checking email and business transactions
Work at home entrepreneurs number in the millions and it is reported that every 11 seconds someone starts a home based business that allows them to work at home. Also 20% of work at home businesses gross between 100k and 500k per year.
-Money Magazine
Less personal time for ourselves
Productivity Increases i.e. Get more projects and reports done in a work week.
2) Hobby
E.g. of Hobbies:
• Video and picture creation
• Software creation
• Distributed Computing projects like Folding@home
(as of march 2008) Total number of videos uploaded on YouTube is 78.3 million and over and it takes 412 years to watch all YouTube Videos. Main up loaders are from USA at 34.5%
Folding@home is a distibuted computing project where everyday people can use their computer to calculate the folding of protein an enable the research to cure diseases such as Alzheimer's, ALS, Huntington's, Parkinson's disease, and many Cancers
Folding@home achieved the 5.0 Petaflop performance on February 18, 2009 which is faster than the fastest single supercomputer
3) Entertainment
E.g. of Entertainment:
• Media machine: I.e. watching videos and listening to music
• Video Games
A 2001 review of the 70 top-selling video games found almost half of all games (49%) contained serious violence, while 40% contained comic violence. In 41% of the games, violence was necessary for the protagonists to achieve their goals.
However studies so far have collectively shown no long term impact on youths physical aggression
* 4) Web browsing
Almost 46 percent of all respondents use the Internet as a primary information source, with a similar percentage noting they get their news online. Men appear to be more likely than women to be online news gatherers, 50.3 to 44.3 percent.
To be expanded (Big separate topic)…
Analysis: The advancement of technology has brought much functionality in terms of software. This has enabled computers to perform roles previously held only by other devices such as the TV. It has also allowed us to do things that previously could not be done such as working at home effectively and playing video games. In areas such as entertainment it has actually displaced other devices that previously held that role primarily.
E.g. (In Entertainment) That's the conclusion of a recent Burst! Media survey of 13,000 web users age 14 and up. 86% of those surveyed felt that a week without a computer would be a disruption. Over 42% characterized that disruption as "significant."
Sources:
http://www.dia.eui.upm.es/asignatu/sis_op1/comp_hd/comp_hd.htm
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1983/4/83.04.06.x.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_computer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_PET
http://www.sowashco.k12.mn.us/lake/pages/socialstudies/pkcivics/html/future.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIVAC_I
http://www.apa.org/releases/videogames.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law
http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Work_at_Home_Statistics_Does_it_really_make_sense_to_work_at_home.html
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2005/08/30/computers-displacing-tvs-phones-in-importance
http://ksudigg.wetpaint.com/page/YouTube+Statistics
