(3of5) The Machine that Changed the World: The Paperback Computer. 1992 480P Documentary
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Uploaded by TTVRewind on Jan 14, 2011
(3of5) (Documentary) (480P) The Machine That Changed the World: The Paperback Computer. (OAD: 1992)
Documentary overview:
The Machine That Changed the World is the longest, most comprehensive documentary about the history of computing ever produced, but since its release in 1992, it's become virtually extinct. Out of print and never released online, the only remaining copies are VHS tapes floating around school libraries or in the homes of fans who dubbed the original shows when they aired.
Video Description:
The development of the personal computer and user interfaces, from Doug Engelbart and Xerox PARC to the Apple and IBM PCs.
Notes:
Like the books of the Middle Ages, early computers were large, extremely expensive, and maintained by a select few. It seemed unlikely they'd be commonplace, partly because they were so difficult to use. Developing software was extremely tedious, the interface limited to writing instructions on punched cards. Ivan Sutherland's revolutionary Sketchpad was the first graphical user interface, pioneering the fields of interactive computing, computer-aided drawing, and object-oriented programming. Douglas Engelbart's NLS, demonstrated in the Mother of All Demos from 1968, demonstrated for the first time several concepts that would become commonplace: the mouse, CRT display, windowing systems, hypertext, videoconferencing, collaborative editing, screen sharing, word processing, and a search engine ordering by relevance. Xerox, realizing computers might lead to paperless communication, created the PARC research laboratory to make computers easy to use. They unified several concepts into a usable computer environment, the Xerox Alto, inventing the modern GUI paradigm of folders, files, and documents, along with Ethernet, Smalltalk, WYSIWIG editing, and the laser printer. Xerox marketed the Xerox Star, but it was expensive and a commercial failure.
In 1971, the invention of the microprocessor led to affordable computer kits like the Altair 8800. Groups of computer hobbyists like the Homebrew Computer Club led to a cottage industry of hardware and software startups, including the founders of Apple Computer. Their Apple I in 1976 and the Apple II in 1977 were huge hits. The success of the personal computer, including the Commodore PET, Atari 400/800, and TRS-80, inspired IBM to enter the market with the PC in 1981. They soon dominated the industry. Inspired by the work at Xerox PARC, Apple responded with the Macintosh, the first successful mass-produced computer with a mouse and GUI.
Software enabled computers to become diverse machines, able to be used for business use, flight simulators, music, illustration, or anything else that could be imagined. Pure software companies like Lotus and Microsoft became tremendously successful, making their founders and early employees very rich. Those using computers required no knowledge of how it worked, including an entire generation raised on computers as familiar objects. The episode concludes with some excellent conceptual designs of future computers from Apple, and a discussion of the potential uses of virtual reality in future computing.
Interviews:
Canon John Tiller (Library Master, Hereford Cathedral), Mitch Kapor (Founder, Lotus), Robert Taylor (Xerox PARC), Ted Nelson (Creator, Project Xanadu), Douglas Engelbart, Larry Tesler (Xerox PARC), Alan Kay (Xerox PARC), Ted Hoff (Co-inventor, microprocessor), Steve Jobs (Cofounder, Apple), Steve Wozniak (Cofounder, Apple), Mike Markkula (Investor, Apple), Lee Felsenstein (Designer, Osborne 1), Bill Gates (Chairman, Microsoft), Chris Peters (Manager, Office), Anne Meyer (Center for Applied Special Tech.), Dr. Henry Fuchs (UNC, Chapel Hill), Dr. Jane Richards (UNC, Chapel Hill), Dr. Frederick P. Brooks, Jr (UNC, Chapel Hill)
Watch Part (1of5)
Giant Brains
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcR74y61xZk
Watch Part (2of5)
Inventing the Future
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1APZ5-cjWfw
Watch Part (4of5)
The Thinking Machine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gzpd0irP58
Watch Part (5of5)
The World at Your Fingertips
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_3A2jSnvHE
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Top Comments
All Comments (14)
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Watching this on my Iphone (in the future)
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Now the book is being replaced by ereaders.
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@achan1058 Not a phone, but the open web where everything known to man can be stored. You have millions of servers all tied together and all you need is tablet that can go anywhere with you and its cheap.
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Rip Steve Jobs
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ha ha Lotus 123....memories (mostly bad)
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46:00 "small computers that are powerful and no longer chained to the library" Sounds like the smartphones of nowadays.
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RIP Steve Jobs
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Perhaps today's home theater systems will become some kind of 3D stations, where the virtual world will eventually be put to effective, personal use. I envisage going to music concerts and sports events via simulation, for example. It's like being there without really being there. Ticket scalpers, take note, your "business" will become extinct! LOL
An absolutely thrilling documentary and the fact that it was made twenty years ago gives it a charming twist somehow.
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greet ko lang si raudah calalagan, sheila llano, quennie pasa and bianca malbas.. LOL
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I like the parts with old video from the 60-80's.
It puts what we have today in perspective.
It is good that great minds of the past worked hard on issues and found solutions that today are almost considered obvious.
For those of them that did not become rich as a result of their discoveries I would like say big THANK YOU.
I wonder how does it feel to spend best parts of ones life working on something and to see that it has become so invisible today. The only reconciliation would be money.
gespilk 11 months ago 4
What gets me is management must never have watched Star Trek. The single most influential TV show that made kids want a computer! How many things can you see from the show that were really made. The communicator which become the flip phone. The whole show is filled with things we now have and use.
WizzRacing 3 months ago