Personal computers and information networks

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The personal computer (PC) industry developed from large mainframe machines that encompassed whole rooms to devices that now cover a small amount of desk space and possess a much larger amount of processing power. Mavericks, entrepreneurs and just plain geeks have been central to the industry’s development, developing rapidly through periods of frenzied growth and continuing to mature during periods of decline.

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Throughout this period of change computers have had a profound effect on people’s everyday lives. They are no longer computational machines that encompass whole rooms, serviced by teams of people to literally churn through punch cards. They can be found in our offices, our homes, our schools, and increasingly in places we might never have expected to see them – within our fridges, cars and toys. This trend towards ubiquitous computing whereby computers and their networks become so integral to our lives that they are invisible has become the holy grail of the computing industry.

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With the proliferation of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), laptops and mobile telephones, we seem destined for a future in which everyone will carry some form of PC with them wherever they go. Computers are becoming embedded into the tacit knowledge of our everyday lives, and as these machines become more intimate to our lives it seems certain that computers will continue to be a device which is central to our future.