Technology
Computer history

Absolutely amazing progress over the last fifty years.

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

One of the advantages of being older is that one has a lot of memories, and this gives perspective to what younger people take for granted.

About 15 years before this photo ... 1967 ... I was working for Aerocol Techniques Inc. in Milford Connecticut, and at one point was the Eastern Division Controller and responsible for a main-frame computer that had just been installed. It had 4K of main memory ... no disk drives or tape drives ... just punch cards. We used a tractor-trailer load of punched cards every week! It had about 500 HP of airconditioning, raised floors, glass walls, etc. All the programming was done specifically for the work we wanted to do ... there were no applications ready to buy and run! It was a big cost, and really did not do very much that was of use. There were a host of problems. Our company collaborated with a Harvard based consulting firm, Managament Analysis Center.

In the late 1970s I purchased a 'personal computer' that cost about $35,000 including the electronics, monitor, keyboard, two 8 inch floppy disks and a Diablo printer ... plus an operating system. Relative to an electric typewriter, even the IBM selectric with eraser ribbon, this was a game changer in terms of paperwork productivity.