The early days of the computer revolution were an incredible time for people who happened to have the right combination of skills, money, and just plain luck – a successful combination for anyone, sure, but especially so in the computer revolution of the late 70’s and early 80’s. Well known examples of this are people like Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and their formation of Apple, Bill Gates and Paul Allen forming Microsoft, Gary Kildall (who helped host the Computer Chronicles during its early years) and his company Digital Research and their once ubiquitous CP/M, and so many others took advantage of a looming technical revolution and made it their own.
It’s amazing to see here, in 1984, how things had already changed – big business had already taken over and if you really know the history of Apple in particular around this time, you know how things happen at that stage of an industries growth – the human aspect is almost lost for business politics. Still, at this time the hobbyist and homebrew scenes were far from dead – even now, they still exist in full force. They just don’t dominate and drive the computer industry as they did in those pioneering days of the 70’s. Custome computers are still made but certainly will never take over the landscape from x86/x64, ARM, and other mainstream architectures. Software for these machines, however, are another story.
Many of the programs you may use on a daily basis are hobbyist projects of varying scales and that shows how the hobbyist scene has changed – the grand focus is on software, as opposed to hardware. As big business took control of the physical side of things, those who knew how to code something that was useful could take advantage of this standardized nature and rise to success.
This episode of the Computer Chronicles focuses on this very type of person and who they are both as people, as entrepreneurs, and as tech-savvy creatives who I think all wanted to help the world in their own way. The human side of the computer revolution shouldn’t be forgotten – it was people who made these machines, after all. They (thankfully) don’t create themselves. At least, not yet…
Enjoy