The Early Years of Personal Computers

Until the late 1970s the computer was viewed as a massive machine that was useful to big business and big government but not to the general public. Computers were too cumbersome and expensive for private use, and most people were intimidated by them. As technology advanced, this was changed by a distinctive group of engineers and entrepreneurs who rushed to improve the designs of then current technology and to find ways to make the computer attractive to more people. Although these innovators of computer technology were very different from each other, they had a common enthusiasm for technical innovation and the capacity to foresee the potential of computers. This was a very competitive and stressful time, and the only people who succeeded were the ones who were able to combine extraordinary engineering expertise with progressive business skills and an ability to foresee the needs of the future.

Much of this activity was centered in the Silicon Valley in northern California where the first computer-related company had been located in 1955. That company attracted thousands of related businesses, and the area became known as the technological capital of the world. Between 1981 and 1986, more than 1000 new technology-oriented businesses started there. At the busiest times, five or more new companies started in a single week. The Silicon Valley attracted many risk-takers and gave them an opportunity to thrive in an atmosphere where creativity was expected and rewarded.

 

Ex. 2. Find English equivalents in the text.

Cлишком дорогая, для личного пользования, сделать привлекательным, предвидеть потенциал, технические знания, конкурентное время, вознагражденные, слишком громоздкая.

 

Ex. 3. Answer the questions.

1. Why were people intimidated by computers some years ago?

2. What new facts about the Silicon Valley have you learnt from the text? Do you know why the Silicon Valley is called so?

Ex. 4. Read the text. Translate it into Russian. Give a summary of it.

 

Robert Noyce

Robert Noyce was a risk-taker who was successful both as an engineer and as entrepreneur. The son of an Iowa minister, he was informal, genuine and methodical. When he was running one of the most successful businesses in the Silicon Valley, he dressed informally. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and started working for one of the first computer-related businesses in 1955/ While working with these pioneers of computer engineering, he learned many things about computers and management.

As an engineer, Robert Noyce co-invented integrated circuit, which was the basis for later computer design. This integrated circuit was less than an eighth of an inch square but had the same power as a transistor unit that was over 15 inches square or a vacuum tube unit that was 6.5 feet square.

As a businessman Noyce co-founded Intel, one of the most successful companies in the Silicon Valley and the first company to introduce the microprocessor. The directors of Intel could not have anticipated the effects that the microprocessor would have on the world. It made possible the invention of the personal computer and eventually led to the birth of thousands of new business. Noyce’s contribution to the development of the integrated circuit and the microprocessor earned him both wealth and fame before his death in 1990. Many people consider his role to be one of the most significant in the silicon Valley story.

 

Ex. 5. Answer the questions.

1) What have you learnt about Robert Noyce as a man?

2) What is Robert Noyce known for as an engineer, as a businessman?

3) What is Intel famous for? What impact did it have?

 

 

Ex. 6. Read the text. Translate it into Russian. Give a summary of it.

 

 

Steven Jobs and Stephen Wozniak

Steven Jobs and Stephen Wozniak introduced the personal computer to the marketplace. They had background unlike Robert Noyce’s: they had neither prestigious university education nor experience in big business. Twenty-year-old Steven Jobs and twenty-four-year-old Stephen Wozniak were college drop-outs who had collaborated on their first project in a local computer club. The first personal computer was built in the garage of Job’s parents and utilized the technology of integrated circuit. It was typewriter-sized, as powerful as a much larger computer, and inexpensive to build.

To Wozniak the new machine was a gadget to share with other members of their computer club. To Jobs it was a product with great marketing potential for homes and small businesses.

To raise the $1300 needed to fill their first orders Jobs sold his Volkswagen bus and Wozniak sold his scientific calculator. Wozniak built and delivered the first order of 100 computers in ten days. Lacking funds, he was forced to use the least expensive materials, the fewest chips and the most creative arrangement of components. Jobs and Wozniak soon had more orders than they could fill with their makeshift production line.

Jobs and Wozniak brought different abilities to their venture: Wozniak was the technological wizard, and Jobs was the entrepreneur. Wozniak designed the first model, and Jobs devised its applications and attracted interest from investors and buyers. Wozniak once admitted that without Jobs he would never have considered selling the computer or known how to do it. “Steve didn’t do any circuit, design or piece of code. He’s not really been into computers and to this day he has never gone through a computer manual. But it never crossed my mind to sell computers. It was Steve who said, ‘Let’s hold them up and sell a few.”

From the very beginning Apple Computer had been sensitive to the needs of a general public that was intimidated by high technology. Jobs insisted that the computers be light, trim, and made in muted colours. He also insisted that the language used with the computer be “user-friendly” and that the operation be simple enough for the average person to learn in a few minutes. These features helped convince a skeptical public that the computer was practical for the home and small business. Jobs also introduced the idea of donating Apple computers to thousands of California schools thereby indirectly introducing his product into the homes of millions of students. Their second model Apple II was the state-of-the-art PC in home and small business computers from 1977 to 1982. By 1983 the total company sales were almost $600 million and it controlled 23 percent of the worldwide market in personal computers.

 

Ex. 7. Find English equivalents in the text.

Выполнять заказы, испытывать недостаток в средствах, быть вынужденным, самодельный конвейер, происхождение, разработать, руководство пользователя, приходить в голову, представить на рынке, опыт, совместное предприятие, настаивать, убедить скептиков.

 

Ex. 8. Answer the questions.

1) What do you know about Steven Jobs’s and Stephen Wozniak’s backgrounds?

2) What do you know about the first personal computer? What technology did it use?

3) How did Steven Jobs and Stephen Wozniak get money to fill their first orders?

4) What made Apple Computer attractive for the public?

 

Ex. 9. Read the text. Translate it into Russian. Give a summary of it.

Martin Alpert

As the computer industry began to reach homes and small businesses around the world, the need for many new products for the personal computer began to emerge. Martin Alpert, the founder of Tecmar Inc., was one of the first people to foresee this need. When IBM released its first personal computer in 1981, Alpert bought the first two models. He took them apart and worked twenty-four hours a day to find out how other products could be attached to them. After two weeks he emerged with the first computer peripherals for the IBM PC, and he later became one of the most successful creators of personal computer peripherals. For example, he designed memory extenders that enabled the computer to store more information and insertable boards that allowed people to use different keyboards while sharing the same printer. After 1981, Tecmar produced an average of one new product per week.

Alpert had neither the technical training of Noyce nor the computer clubs of Jobs and Wozniak to encourage his interest in computer engineering. His parents were German refugees who worked in a factory and a bakery to pay for his college education. They insisted that he study medicine even though his interest was in electronics. Throughout medical school he studied electronics passionately but privately. He became a doctor, but practiced only part time while pursing his preferred interest in electronics. His first electronics products were medical instruments that he built in his living room. His wife recognized the potential of his projects before he did, and enrolled in a graduate program in business management so she could run his electronics business successfully. Their annual sales reached $1 million, and they had 15 engineers working in their living room before they moved to a larger building in 1981. It wasn’t until 1983 that Alpert stopped practicing medicine and gave his full attention to Tecmar. By 1984 Tecmar was valued at $150 million.