"The very uselessness of the Altair is what drove the hobbyists together." Yep. I was a new student at a DeVry school in Toronto in 1982, and one guy who'd homebrewed an Altair -based system that could run CP/M had brought it into the school to do some work he couldn't do at home... and I was there the day he managed to prove his idea that an Altair with 32K of RAM could manage time-sharing by running two completely separate CP/M operating systems - each with its own memory and I/O space - with timing allocated by a simple timing device. For a newbie, it was pretty heady stuff.
I agree completely. Some people (relatively few) exude honesty and class. Woz is one of them, and one of my all-time favorites. His autobiography, iWoz, was one of the most fascinating tomes I've ever had the pleasure of reading.
@D HUH??????!?!?!? I don't own any apple products and don't care for them. But last time I checked arent they the first TRILLION DOLLAR company? They lost half of their wealth back in the day with Gate, no? Now I think they're doing too well and have too much power with their sheep followers.
I'm 66. It was the most fun I've ever had. A moment in time that will probably never happen again. The only regret is I was so young I didn't know it was special. I thought most people did what loved and worked with very bright and creative people. If I had a time machine I'd go back...over and over.
I'm just 3 years younger than you... but I didn't think myself too young, and I certainly *knew* it was special. I was an 8th grade "computer science" student (new program that year in my suburban Montreal highschool) when I was 12 in 1972... and being connected to computers (originally through DTSS at Dartmouth) was a revelation.
I bought my very first computer in 2000. Bought it from a Salvation Army store. It was a Packard Bell 486DX2/66mhz. It came with monitor, keyboard, mouse, 14k modem, 340 mb hard drive, 1 mb of memory and already installed with Windows 3.1. WOW!! Cost me $50. A brand new one from 1996 costs $1300
I remember this documentary, it is a blast from the 90s. Good stuff, I love the Machine that Change the World, part 1 can't be viewed because some complained and ruin it for us all because of copyright.
Most Excellent! and historically correct documentary on the PC. I bought an IMSAI 8080 PC kit in 1977. There was no OS for the IMSAI only the BASIC language that booted from the front panel and ran directly on w/o an OS. I wrote a Disk OS for the IMSAI called FDOS and an language application for manufacturing CNC interface in 1978 and showed it in a booth at the International Machine Tool show in Chicago in 1978. I love PCs, I don't love social media, the cloud and Windows 10. ask me why.
@@pepxycolla I currently develop manufacturing software applications for Windows on an IBM 32bit PC with Windows XP that is NEVER connected to the internet. I also use an Acer 64 bit system with Windows 7 for system testing that is also NEVER connected to the internet. Both systems have run flawlessly for over 20+ years without any virus protection software or any software updates. I used a separate Windows 10 system for internet communications with virus protection software to send and receive client data. This Windows 10 system would typically work for only 1-2 years before becoming corrupted and would have to be completely purged and reloaded to original state. I finally replaced the windows system for internet communication with a Chrome system w/o virus protection and it has been working now for 4+ years without purging and reloading. Although I constantly get and delete spam e-mail including e-mail from visus protection companies notifying me that my (windows system) is full of malware. I never use the cloud and do all my social interactions on my mobile phone using text messages. Best regards Larry
2023. As a touring musician who is stepping into programming. I appreciate the Gibson Les Paul (the guitar behind Woz) so purposefully set in frame. 🍻 💻
I know a 'nerd' didn't like drop down menus...he said it .."took the mystery and the secrecy out of running a computer"...my biggest and abrupt reply to him was..."Good, about time!" It was as if it was making fun of all the commands he used to type in. I just reminded him, that "we are in the 20th century, Peter", I'm glad of the drop down menus...it made my life easier. The drop downs revolutionized personal computers. It certainly put paid to the Commodore 20 I used to own. My next one was an Atari 520ST, then the 1040. Wasn't compatible with other computers, but I did use it for a lot of things like typing songs out, and sending them to my little Star dot matrix printer. Oh those were the days. Then microsoft came out with a real computer...the 3.1. Personal computers really came alive then. The rest is history.
only thing i find kinda sad and unfortunate about the evolution of technology and such is how back in the day someone could start a company with a small game made by small people in a small room as long as they had the drive for it and same with computers but now that all that have become so advanced its just not possible anymore :/ games are so big and next gen now that you kinda need a big team to get pretty much anywhere in the world unless you are fine with just being that small indie dev that someone might have heard about
@@JimTheKid Capitalism isn't a ideology so it isn't going to be taking it over. Capitalism can work together with communism which is a philosophical ideology.
I loved these videos when they were new. Don't even get me started on "Computer Chronicles"; best tech show ever! Nowadays, computers are mostly appliances... or worse yet, TOYS. 25+ years ago, I could not wait to get home from work and get on my computer, and log onto Prodigy. These days, I have a computer in my pocket all day. What went wrong?
@Jon I have observed that there are times in life where people do not adapt to changes for multiple reasons. It is not always consistent with people being older.
@Jon relax he's just reflecting on how we take computers for granted nowadays. its possible to both appreciate todays technology while being wistful about how everyday its become
What I really dislike about this documentary is that they only mention Apple, Microsoft, and IBM and let them seem to having been the main companies that started it all off. But that's of course wrong and misleading. They mention the Intel 8080. At the time, it was one of the two predominant microprocessors. The other was the MOS 6502 (which was actually the heart of the Apple II). It was built into most of the personal computers at the time, including the Tandy and the Commodore machines like the PET and the VIC 20. Neither the processor nor these machines are mentioned. For this reason I don't consider this as a good documentary. Also, the glorification of big money disgusts me a little.
The documentary was about computer companies, including their software. It wasn't about microprocessor manufacturers. The 8080 was only mentioned because of its connection with the Altair. Why does the idea of making money "disgust" you?
@@robertromero8692 "The documentary was about computer companies, including their software" Well, following the title, it is a documentary on personal computers - not about three big companies. The title is obviously misleading. "Why does the idea of making money "disgust" you?" You really ask that?
@@bierundkippen720 “it is a documentary on personal computers - not about three big companies.” What’s objectionable about focusing on the companies that had the biggest impact in personal computers? “You really ask that?” Yes I do. What’s wrong with making money. Do YOU make money?
@@robertromero8692 "What’s objectionable about focusing on the companies that had the biggest impact in personal computers?" Well, it's stupid when the title is "Personal Computers". It's simple logic. Don't you get that?
@@bierundkippen720 There were a plethora of personal computer companies back in the day. It makes no sense for the documentary to try to cover them all. It covered the machines that had the biggest impact on the market. The PET wasn't one of them.
Maybe you need menu options ,browser,perhaps,too adjust documentary mirrors,kaledescope is only one set of settings able of such options,otjer observatories exsist,multi tjreading yuh see,html...
@@herrfriberger5 Yes, and one of the best CPU's ever, Assembler is so easy to program. Today the x86 x64 CPU's have thousands of commands, but ARM CPU's comes them close today, maybe ARM never had the change to program them in assembler.
There's an error at the 10:40 time mark where the host speaks about high level programming languages. He states that FORTRAN followed COBOL. This is incorrect. FORTRAN was released in 1957, COBOL in 1959 (and I think officially released in 61 or 62 by IBM) and BASIC in 1964. FORTRAN was suited for performing complex calculations, so it was the natural progression from machine language for scientists and engineers at that time. COBOL was built for writing business applications and finally BASIC, well, that was an all-purpose language (which back then compiled down to machine code. Later versions developed by Microsoft didn't compile but ran interpreted, very much slower).
And these two films (part one and two) are an a-b-c of today's situation. I think all of us, our friends and firstly- children should watch this and share to others. It's important to KNOW where we live and what for. And also who's giving cards in the "game" for our minds ;) . After all these years still actual and motivating material. Huge "like" from me :) .
I can not believe that one of the first statements made here is that Paul Allen and Bill Gates invented the Personal Computer. That is a completely false statement. As he also mentioned, that they started a SOFTWARE company, not a HARDWARE company. I am pretty sure that Microsoft has never built a computer, until I think the Microsoft XBox in 2001 and the Microsoft Surface in 2012 . They were of course focused on software. They added basic to almost every system, and created operating systems to run on some of the first personal computers. So, to say they significantly helped build the personal computer industry would be a more accurate statement.
I believe you are correct. They did not even create the Basic that they were installing on every system in the early days. They stole tiny basic and made a few changes and made a fortune !!!
He never said they invented the PC. He said young men LIKE Gates and Allen did. He used them as an example because at the time Microsoft was a huge part of the PC industry and they both played a huge part in creating it, although they never made any hardware. Of course this was all explained here if you cared to listen.
@@JaredConnell That is the same as saying, young men "LIKE" Jared Connell and Jeff Nay invented the Personal Computer. As they were guys just like us. I guess he could have simply said that the personal computer was created 20 years ago, by a bunch of geeks in their garage. Although it is more like 47 years ago, now. I would prefer to say people like Federico Faggin (8080 / Z80) and Chuck Peddle (6502) actually helped invent the Personal Computer. As they created the actual CPUs that made things like the home computer and video game systems possible. Neither one, was mentioned. I have one of those first home computers, the Altair 8800 and of course the magazine that goes with it... Although I look at the Micral N a french computer based on the 8008 CPU, that came out in early 1973, as the first home computer. As it looks like Robert's may have based the Altair 8800 on this computer. As they look very similar... So, describing the Altair 8800 as the oldest Personal Computer in the world, "may" not be entirely accurate either. Thank you for reaching out. I did end up watching the entire video. As I am a vintage computer collector, and have all the computers mentioned in this video as well as VisiCalc and Lotus 123 and every version of DOS from 1.03 to 5.
Mainly because at the time there was no College Classes that truly taught what they were doing at the time. They invented what they were doing. The were truly the Pioneers of their craft
We all love a great myth, but it's bit false to portray them all as just tech geniuses who "didn't even go to college" yet had a "Vast knowledge of computer engineering and software programming". Consider that the very computer chips that they were using had been developed by engineers with bachelors, masters, and doctorate degrees in engineering, and that the underpinnings of the computer science elements they applied came out of decades of research and development university, government, and private enterprise where mainframe and what were called minicomputers led the way. Bottom line: There were thousands already employed who had vaster knowledge of computer engineering and software programming. The "genius" was FWIW: Bill Gates was a National Merit Scholar when he graduated from Lakeside School in 1973. He scored 1590 out of 1600 on the Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT) and enrolled at Harvard College in the autumn of 1973. He chose a pre-law major but took mathematics and graduate level computer science courses.
We all love a good myth but most of them did not have "vast knowledge of computer engineering and software programming". Their genius was in applying newly developed technology to start the personal computer product segment. It should be noted that the computer chips and integrated circuits that they were applying had been developed by engineers and scientists with bachelors, masters, and doctorates by companies such as Intel, Fairchild, Signetics, Mostek, Motorola, Texas Instruments, and National Semiconductor. The foundations and tools of computer science and computer engineering had been developed in the prior decades with university, government, and private industry research from companies such as IBM, Burroughs, Honeywell, CDC, Digital Equipment Corporation, et al. With the vast majority of those computer scientists and engineers having bachelors and advanced degrees. Mainframes and minicomputers were there as models for the "personal computer" hobbyists and product pioneers. For many years, the VAX11-780 minicomputer was the benchmark that personal computers were compared to. Bottom line is that when it comes to those with "vast knowledge of computer engineering and software programming" there were easily thousands who had vaster knowledge in those areas at the time. The "genius", vision, and wealth that was made was in the application and recognizing the opportunities much more than engineering and computer programming skills. I.e. much more entrepreneurial genius than technical genius.
im still watching this today, i wish i still had a CRT for all my old 4:3 games and programs. 3.4 Ghz CPU and 8GB of ram may seem like a lot back then but today Intel i5 and i7's blow my computer out of the water.
+Matt Brine 15 years ago I had an 8088 and an 8086 (as well as state of the art computers), and my kids (in their 20's now) still miss the games Mars, Iceman, Moon Landing, etc, etc. Playing those games now is tough, and they end up being tiny on the monitor... IF you can find them.
You still can't beat the CRT for multiple resolution capability! The one way the LCD is still behind. I just ordered a new (to me) CRT - eBay has some great stuff!
+thomase13 Yeah. Amazing how bad the LCD screens are as far as colors. They change like crazy depending on the viewing angle. But I do like their light weight. You and I both know that they will get this all figured out. The advances in the last 25 years have been out of this world. I have a powerful computer in my pocket!
aaaaaahhhh , the good old days ; my father got me hooked on those ; his first computer was a ( ??? ) , i have no idea but it had to be housed in a 3 story building and he used metal pins to actually program it ; he was SO glad when they went to punch cards ; for myself my first one was an 8088 programming machine language and basic ; frig binary programming 😵💫😵 ; then i went to the TRS80 model 3 and started learning cobol and fortran ; then progressed from there --- good times 😁
This program would have been soooo much better had this clown just told the story and presented the interviews without all of the dressing up and parading around as though he was part of this. God save us from reporters and their egos.
Your the best of the bunch with the late Steve Jobs, Bill Gates & Steve Wozniak , our Hero's and I love coco cola and pizza with Science class with the American freedom ✔
Anyone remember MICRON computers?? I recall them being among the best at one time. My dad bought a new one with the Pentium 90 and we thought we were really something lol. Was a big step up from the legendary 486. Of course it wasn’t long before the Pentium 100 came along and knocked us off our pedestal. Obsolescence is still a bitch today lol 😂 Of course this was early 90s. I’m to young to remember the 80s. I do recall using DOS when I was very young to load up a chess game. We had a battle chess game and you had to use those old floppy disks and DOS to load it.
Geeks from the 70s aren't much different than geeks from today, they may have spent a bit more time outside and ate a little less, but ultimately they are pretty much the same
The early nerds realized nerds as a whole were gaining too much power and were too unregulated so they made sure to turn the nerds of tomorrow into lazy bums, with lesser IQs that just watch marvel and play video games. We live in a Nerdarchy.
In 1989, My Second Quarter Electronics Teacher, Russ Spitolnick, Was Asked A Simple Question..."What Do You think Will Be The Most Important Development In Future Personal Computing?"... Russ' Answer Was Immediate..."There's No Question About It...The Future Of Computers Is In Communications..." What, After All, Is You Tube And Facebook, BUT Communications?..Russ Was A Prophet, And I Thank My God That He Was My Second Quarter Electronics Instructor At New England Tech, West Palm Beach. Florida, Way, Way Back In 1989.. Before You Tube, Before Facebook.. Before ANY Of Us Knew What The Hell Was REALLY Going On In Electronics.... Russel Spitolnick Knew..Don't We Fell Better, Now?.....
I bought a TRS80 in '77, and upgraded to an Apple II in '79. It was the last Apple product I ever bought. It followed the design philosophy of Wozniak, meaning it was greatly customizable. Subsequent Apple products followed the Jobs philosophy, meaning the design was DICTATED, with NO opportunity for customization. I've always hated that attitude. It's no wonder that Apple has a small market share.
i love this doc, but within the first minute, he changes history gates and allen did not create the personal computer they created languages for the pc to use as he loves to point out during the doc series "its all about the app" a pc is just a box without the apps
The computerindustry is represented by APPLE founder Steve Jobs and MICROSOFT Bill Gates Those two really made progress in the computerindustry. I can't programm, those two can and I like to work with their programms. Kind regards.
Its interesting how winners writes the History new, the Apple II was entering the Market on June 1977, but the Commodore PET was entering the Market on January 1977 on the Winter show CES. Hmm ok the first complete PC was not the Apple II it was the Commodore PET. damn
Bob Cringeworthy (not a typo) always ignores the contributions of RadioShack, Atari, and arguably the most significant player in the early personal computer revolution: Commodore. Too much emphasis on Microsoft and Apple. Yeah yeah, to the winners go the spoils and they write the history yadda yadda. Those are poor, intellectually vapid arguments.
"at one time he ate nothing but fruit" Well, sounds like the kind of guy who'd use alt-medicine to cure cancer I guess... shame, but hey, sure accomplished a lot in the time he had.
Wrong - Xerox PARC - invented everything - the "personal computer,GUI, mouse, bitmapped display, ethernet, object oriented programming, laser printer, WYSIWYG, natural language processing; all before the Apple I - which was a kit - and didn't even have a powersupply or keyboard.
"Their µPs today power 85% of the world's computers" is no longer true... perhaps a 10% maybe? Nowadays that honour belongs to ARM. Intel lost the train of low power µPs...
Apple the first mass market computer company? What a twat, the first was Commodore with the PET which was the first mass market computer that didn't require someone else's equipment to make a full system, an off the shelf computer for the masses (all 1000 of them who wanted one in 1976 lol). Apple always played second fiddle to Commodre, first with the C64, then the Amiga 1000 then the Amiga 4000 040 (the most powerful CPU and graphics of any off the shelf desk top computer for sale in the world for a brief period when it was launched...and it wasn't an Apple Mac LC 040 that beat it lol)
Ah, back when geeks and nerds actually had brains, rather than a large collection of Marvel DVDs
yea we still have lol not dvds, brain lol
Ahahah indeed
Nothing has changed, nerds still run the world, go step on the Google campus
Why not both?
this.
"The very uselessness of the Altair is what drove the hobbyists together."
Yep. I was a new student at a DeVry school in Toronto in 1982, and one guy who'd homebrewed an Altair -based system that could run CP/M had brought it into the school to do some work he couldn't do at home... and I was there the day he managed to prove his idea that an Altair with 32K of RAM could manage time-sharing by running two completely separate CP/M operating systems - each with its own memory and I/O space - with timing allocated by a simple timing device.
For a newbie, it was pretty heady stuff.
*Triumph of the Nerds* PBS
Initial release: June 12, 1996
Yeah, it annoyed me that the guy kept referring to past years in a relative manner although it's rather clear it's the mid-90s.
PBS has always been awesome.
i love Woz.
he's truly innocent...
I agree completely. Some people (relatively few) exude honesty and class. Woz is one of them, and one of my all-time favorites.
His autobiography, iWoz, was one of the most fascinating tomes I've ever had the pleasure of reading.
Worked Security for Apple in the 90's. Met Woz once. He was genuine.
He's very underrated indeed - without him, Apple would never have come into existence.
1980s Apple: we’re going to disrupt major corporate culture.
Apple today: we are one of the worlds largest companies.
@D HUH??????!?!?!? I don't own any apple products and don't care for them. But last time I checked arent they the first TRILLION DOLLAR company? They lost half of their wealth back in the day with Gate, no?
Now I think they're doing too well and have too much power with their sheep followers.
Just like Nirvana: "we are anticorporative", then a disc record corporation promote them and they become millionaires.
I'm 66. It was the most fun I've ever had. A moment in time that will probably never happen again. The only regret is I was so young I didn't know it was special. I thought most people did what loved and worked with very bright and creative people. If I had a time machine I'd go back...over and over.
I'm just 3 years younger than you... but I didn't think myself too young, and I certainly *knew* it was special. I was an 8th grade "computer science" student (new program that year in my suburban Montreal highschool) when I was 12 in 1972... and being connected to computers (originally through DTSS at Dartmouth) was a revelation.
RIP Weirdstuff - I'm happy that I got a few years of being able to visit this Silicon Valley icon when I moved here in 2015.
Coke, pizza, and body odor. Glad to see some things never change in the industry
.....and fantasy novels, white socks / running trainers (sneakers in the US)
I bought my very first computer in 2000. Bought it from a Salvation Army store. It was a Packard Bell 486DX2/66mhz. It came with monitor, keyboard, mouse, 14k modem, 340 mb hard drive, 1 mb of memory and already installed with Windows 3.1. WOW!! Cost me $50. A brand new one from 1996 costs $1300
That could have been my computer. When I was 10 in 1993 we got a packard bell 486 66mh :)
I bought my very first computer in 1990 although i had been working with computers since 1985.
Ed Roberts and MITS should be honored as pioneer for PC.
I remember this documentary, it is a blast from the 90s. Good stuff, I love the Machine that Change the World, part 1 can't be viewed because some complained and ruin it for us all because of copyright.
Most Excellent! and historically correct documentary on the PC.
I bought an IMSAI 8080 PC kit in 1977. There was no OS for the IMSAI
only the BASIC language that booted from the front panel and ran directly
on w/o an OS. I wrote a Disk OS for the IMSAI called FDOS and an language application for manufacturing CNC interface in 1978 and showed it in a booth at the International Machine Tool show in Chicago in 1978.
I love PCs, I don't love social media, the cloud and Windows 10.
ask me why.
@@pepxycolla
I currently develop manufacturing software applications for
Windows on an IBM 32bit PC with Windows XP that is NEVER connected to the internet. I also use an Acer 64 bit system with Windows 7 for system testing that is also NEVER connected to the internet. Both systems have run flawlessly for over 20+ years without any virus protection software or any software updates.
I used a separate Windows 10 system for internet communications with virus protection software to send and
receive client data. This Windows 10 system would typically
work for only 1-2 years before becoming corrupted and would have to be completely purged and reloaded to original
state.
I finally replaced the windows system for internet communication with a Chrome system w/o virus protection
and it has been working now for 4+ years without purging and reloading. Although I constantly get and delete spam e-mail including e-mail from visus protection companies notifying me that my (windows system) is full of malware.
I never use the cloud and do all my social interactions on
my mobile phone using text messages.
Best regards
Larry
2023. As a touring musician who is stepping into programming. I appreciate the Gibson Les Paul (the guitar behind Woz) so purposefully set in frame. 🍻 💻
I know a 'nerd' didn't like drop down menus...he said it .."took the mystery and the secrecy out of running a computer"...my biggest and abrupt reply to him was..."Good, about time!" It was as if it was making fun of all the commands he used to type in. I just reminded him, that "we are in the 20th century, Peter", I'm glad of the drop down menus...it made my life easier. The drop downs revolutionized personal computers. It certainly put paid to the Commodore 20 I used to own. My next one was an Atari 520ST, then the 1040. Wasn't compatible with other computers, but I did use it for a lot of things like typing songs out, and sending them to my little Star dot matrix printer. Oh those were the days. Then microsoft came out with a real computer...the 3.1. Personal computers really came alive then. The rest is history.
Great video! Seeing so many people of the computer world so long ago is very joyful experience.
only thing i find kinda sad and unfortunate about the evolution of technology and such is how back in the day someone could start a company with a small game made by small people in a small room as long as they had the drive for it and same with computers but now that all that have become so advanced its just not possible anymore :/ games are so big and next gen now that you kinda need a big team to get pretty much anywhere in the world unless you are fine with just being that small indie dev that someone might have heard about
This is truly and honestly a great great upload. Has opened my eyes a bit and broken a few of my misconceptions.
Thank you.
I love how they introduce people with their net worth to give them validity.
capitalism man...
lol
Globalist capitalist pigs
@@augustuseuropa410 i will take that over communism any day lol
@@JimTheKid Capitalism isn't a ideology so it isn't going to be taking it over. Capitalism can work together with communism which is a philosophical ideology.
I loved these videos when they were new. Don't even get me started on "Computer Chronicles"; best tech show ever!
Nowadays, computers are mostly appliances... or worse yet, TOYS.
25+ years ago, I could not wait to get home from work and get on my computer, and log onto Prodigy.
These days, I have a computer in my pocket all day. What went wrong?
nothing went wrong, how could that possibly be a bad thing?
@Jon I have observed that there are times in life where people do not adapt to changes for multiple reasons. It is not always consistent with people being older.
@Jon relax he's just reflecting on how we take computers for granted nowadays. its possible to both appreciate todays technology while being wistful about how everyday its become
What I really dislike about this documentary is that they only mention Apple, Microsoft, and IBM and let them seem to having been the main companies that started it all off. But that's of course wrong and misleading. They mention the Intel 8080. At the time, it was one of the two predominant microprocessors. The other was the MOS 6502 (which was actually the heart of the Apple II). It was built into most of the personal computers at the time, including the Tandy and the Commodore machines like the PET and the VIC 20. Neither the processor nor these machines are mentioned. For this reason I don't consider this as a good documentary. Also, the glorification of big money disgusts me a little.
The documentary was about computer companies, including their software. It wasn't about microprocessor manufacturers. The 8080 was only mentioned because of its connection with the Altair. Why does the idea of making money "disgust" you?
@@robertromero8692 "The documentary was about computer companies, including their software"
Well, following the title, it is a documentary on personal computers - not about three big companies. The title is obviously misleading.
"Why does the idea of making money "disgust" you?"
You really ask that?
@@bierundkippen720 “it is a documentary on personal computers - not about three big companies.”
What’s objectionable about focusing on the companies that had the biggest impact in personal computers?
“You really ask that?”
Yes I do. What’s wrong with making money. Do YOU make money?
@@robertromero8692 "What’s objectionable about focusing on the companies that had the biggest impact in personal computers?"
Well, it's stupid when the title is "Personal Computers". It's simple logic. Don't you get that?
@@bierundkippen720 There were a plethora of personal computer companies back in the day. It makes no sense for the documentary to try to cover them all. It covered the machines that had the biggest impact on the market. The PET wasn't one of them.
Funny how that History Documentary is itself now part of history.
Maybe you need menu options ,browser,perhaps,too adjust documentary mirrors,kaledescope is only one set of settings able of such options,otjer observatories exsist,multi tjreading yuh see,html...
@@stevebez2767 that gave me a stroke
"more than a million transistors,"
crazy how far we've come. my skylake i7 now has BILLIONS. Absurd. Love it.
The CPU of the Apple II, Commodore 64 and many other early personal computers used a simple CPU called the 6502. It had about 3500 transistors.
Or the equivalent of a university floor full of valves
Watt is power. What is any transition yunno?
Your sky lake i7 < my alder lake i7
@@herrfriberger5
Yes, and one of the best CPU's ever, Assembler is so easy to program. Today the x86 x64 CPU's have thousands of commands, but ARM CPU's comes them close today, maybe ARM never had the change to program them in assembler.
There's an error at the 10:40 time mark where the host speaks about high level programming languages. He states that FORTRAN followed COBOL. This is incorrect. FORTRAN was released in 1957, COBOL in 1959 (and I think officially released in 61 or 62 by IBM) and BASIC in 1964. FORTRAN was suited for performing complex calculations, so it was the natural progression from machine language for scientists and engineers at that time. COBOL was built for writing business applications and finally BASIC, well, that was an all-purpose language (which back then compiled down to machine code. Later versions developed by Microsoft didn't compile but ran interpreted, very much slower).
the dancers belong to paul allen. nice.
Sun E & Charz?
I cant stop watching this, its that awesome
And these two films (part one and two) are an a-b-c of today's situation. I think all of us, our friends and firstly- children should watch this and share to others. It's important to KNOW where we live and what for. And also who's giving cards in the "game" for our minds ;) . After all these years still actual and motivating material. Huge "like" from me :) .
I can not believe that one of the first statements made here is that Paul Allen and Bill Gates invented the Personal Computer.
That is a completely false statement. As he also mentioned, that they started a SOFTWARE company, not a HARDWARE company.
I am pretty sure that Microsoft has never built a computer, until I think the Microsoft XBox in 2001 and the Microsoft Surface in 2012 .
They were of course focused on software. They added basic to almost every system, and created operating systems to run on some of the first personal computers.
So, to say they significantly helped build the personal computer industry would be a more accurate statement.
Jeff Nay they didn't create anything. They bought that software and rebranded it and sold it as something else
I believe you are correct. They did not even create the Basic that they were installing on every system in the early days. They stole tiny basic and made a few changes and made a fortune !!!
The first was in ussr
He never said they invented the PC. He said young men LIKE Gates and Allen did. He used them as an example because at the time Microsoft was a huge part of the PC industry and they both played a huge part in creating it, although they never made any hardware. Of course this was all explained here if you cared to listen.
@@JaredConnell That is the same as saying, young men "LIKE" Jared Connell and Jeff Nay invented the Personal Computer. As they were guys just like us.
I guess he could have simply said that the personal computer was created 20 years ago, by a bunch of geeks in their garage. Although it is more like 47 years ago, now.
I would prefer to say people like Federico Faggin (8080 / Z80) and Chuck Peddle (6502) actually helped invent the Personal Computer. As they created the actual CPUs that made things like the home computer and video game systems possible. Neither one, was mentioned.
I have one of those first home computers, the Altair 8800 and of course the magazine that goes with it... Although I look at the Micral N a french computer based on the 8008 CPU, that came out in early 1973, as the first home computer. As it looks like Robert's may have based the Altair 8800 on this computer. As they look very similar... So, describing the Altair 8800 as the oldest Personal Computer in the world, "may" not be entirely accurate either.
Thank you for reaching out. I did end up watching the entire video. As I am a vintage computer collector, and have all the computers mentioned in this video as well as VisiCalc and Lotus 123 and every version of DOS from 1.03 to 5.
They had a vast knowledge of computer engineering and software programming and they didn’t even go to college. Tech geniuses.
Mainly because at the time there was no College Classes that truly taught what they were doing at the time.
They invented what they were doing.
The were truly the Pioneers of their craft
We all love a great myth, but it's bit false to portray them all as just tech geniuses who "didn't even go to college" yet had a "Vast knowledge of computer engineering and software programming". Consider that the very computer chips that they were using had been developed by engineers with bachelors, masters, and doctorate degrees in engineering, and that the underpinnings of the computer science elements they applied came out of decades of research and development university, government, and private enterprise where mainframe and what were called minicomputers led the way. Bottom line: There were thousands already employed who had vaster knowledge of computer engineering and software programming. The "genius" was
FWIW: Bill Gates was a National Merit Scholar when he graduated from Lakeside School in 1973. He scored 1590 out of 1600 on the Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT) and enrolled at Harvard College in the autumn of 1973. He chose a pre-law major but took mathematics and graduate level computer science courses.
We all love a good myth but most of them did not have "vast knowledge of computer engineering and software programming". Their genius was in applying newly developed technology to start the personal computer product segment. It should be noted that the computer chips and integrated circuits that they were applying had been developed by engineers and scientists with bachelors, masters, and doctorates by companies such as Intel, Fairchild, Signetics, Mostek, Motorola, Texas Instruments, and National Semiconductor.
The foundations and tools of computer science and computer engineering had been developed in the prior decades with university, government, and private industry research from companies such as IBM, Burroughs, Honeywell, CDC, Digital Equipment Corporation, et al. With the vast majority of those computer scientists and engineers having bachelors and advanced degrees.
Mainframes and minicomputers were there as models for the "personal computer" hobbyists and product pioneers. For many years, the VAX11-780 minicomputer was the benchmark that personal computers were compared to.
Bottom line is that when it comes to those with "vast knowledge of computer engineering and software programming" there were easily thousands who had vaster knowledge in those areas at the time. The "genius", vision, and wealth that was made was in the application and recognizing the opportunities much more than engineering and computer programming skills. I.e. much more entrepreneurial genius than technical genius.
College was in able to teach them what they needed to know
im still watching this today, i wish i still had a CRT for all my old 4:3 games and programs. 3.4 Ghz CPU and 8GB of ram may seem like a lot back then but today Intel i5 and i7's blow my computer out of the water.
+Matt Brine 15 years ago I had an 8088 and an 8086 (as well as state of the art computers), and my kids (in their 20's now) still miss the games Mars, Iceman, Moon Landing, etc, etc. Playing those games now is tough, and they end up being tiny on the monitor... IF you can find them.
You still can't beat the CRT for multiple resolution capability!
The one way the LCD is still behind.
I just ordered a new (to me) CRT - eBay has some great stuff!
+thomase13 Yeah. Amazing how bad the LCD screens are as far as colors. They change like crazy depending on the viewing angle. But I do like their light weight. You and I both know that they will get this all figured out. The advances in the last 25 years have been out of this world. I have a powerful computer in my pocket!
Colors don't change on an IPS monitors when you change your angle of view
I'm looking for the Radio Shack TRS-80. When it came to home computers it was much better than the bigger, more complex ones.
aaaaaahhhh , the good old days ; my father got me hooked on those ; his first computer was a ( ??? ) , i have no idea but it had to be housed in a 3 story building and he used metal pins to actually program it ; he was SO glad when they went to punch cards ; for myself my first one was an 8088 programming machine language and basic ; frig binary programming 😵💫😵 ; then i went to the TRS80 model 3 and started learning cobol and fortran ; then progressed from there --- good times 😁
This program would have been soooo much better had this clown just told the story and presented the interviews without all of the dressing up and parading around as though he was part of this. God save us from reporters and their egos.
The upload has (in)conveniently removed the opening title and credit, so I like to know what is the proper name of this video?
Your the best of the bunch with the late Steve Jobs, Bill Gates & Steve Wozniak , our Hero's and I love coco cola and pizza with Science class with the American freedom ✔
Anyone remember MICRON computers?? I recall them being among the best at one time. My dad bought a new one with the Pentium 90 and we thought we were really something lol. Was a big step up from the legendary 486. Of course it wasn’t long before the Pentium 100 came along and knocked us off our pedestal. Obsolescence is still a bitch today lol 😂
Of course this was early 90s. I’m to young to remember the 80s. I do recall using DOS when I was very young to load up a chess game. We had a battle chess game and you had to use those old floppy disks and DOS to load it.
"...even the dancers"? Now that's an intro.
Retro documentary about retro computing!
Geeks from the 70s aren't much different than geeks from today, they may have spent a bit more time outside and ate a little less, but ultimately they are pretty much the same
8:47 eating, bathing, having a girlfriend, [...]social life, it's incidental, it gets in the way of code time.
Very informative , whole lotta thanks for the post tbh
I thought i heard him say a teacher a Catholic school...two seconds later we sher are dope we sher are bed ..... I love it simply 👍👍👍👍👍
the cartoon students mocking them was cherry.
The early nerds realized nerds as a whole were gaining too much power and were too unregulated so they made sure to turn the nerds of tomorrow into lazy bums, with lesser IQs that just watch marvel and play video games. We live in a Nerdarchy.
Great video 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀
In 1989, My Second Quarter Electronics Teacher, Russ Spitolnick, Was Asked A Simple Question..."What Do You think Will Be The Most Important Development In Future Personal Computing?"... Russ' Answer Was Immediate..."There's No Question About It...The Future Of Computers Is In Communications..." What, After All, Is You Tube And Facebook, BUT Communications?..Russ Was A Prophet, And I Thank My God That He Was My Second Quarter Electronics Instructor At New England Tech, West Palm Beach. Florida, Way, Way Back In 1989.. Before You Tube, Before Facebook.. Before ANY Of Us Knew What The Hell Was REALLY Going On In Electronics.... Russel Spitolnick Knew..Don't We Fell Better, Now?.....
In fact the title of this movie is 'Triumph of nerds'
Good thing nothing happened in the PC industry after 1996.
I remember, in the early 90s, the desktop 🖥…u had to go through the phone ☎ line 🤓
wow the world has changed how many Tech Ceo know how to code or that the fact that being a Nerd is guaranteed to provide you employment
Back when if you were computer savvy you were actually considered a nerd.
Only 5 seconds on Shockley, Noyce and the Traitorous 8?
If it was Grace Hopper who realised assigning operations to words would be the way to go, who thought using a monitor would be even better.
That thumbnail tho 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣💀i literally cant rn
30:29
I don't know why that didn't surprise me. "Emotionally she was beyond her years." type of guy.
true fucking nerd culture none of that hipster horseshit
i get your point. It became some kind of fashion or some product the media created to get some profif of it.
Lol these nerds was hipsters that became very rich hipsters
Paul Allen. The guy who didn't invent Jack Shit. lol
I'm supposed to be watching this but I'm gonna play Minecraft instead
My teacher is making us watch this and write a half page summary
I love it when he said PCs were just under drugs in sales...
Weird to think how this was before Apple rebounded in the 2000s.
"It drove the nerds to curiosity"... LOL Really? "The nerds"??? The narrator reminds me of 'Revenge of the Nerds' movie.
It sounds like he’s being downright insulting at times.
so much to know and learn i use to work for apple computer
What year is this movie?
I couldn’t quite see because of the old video quality, was that guy growing mushrooms in the office?
I bought a TRS80 in '77, and upgraded to an Apple II in '79. It was the last Apple product I ever bought. It followed the design philosophy of Wozniak, meaning it was greatly customizable. Subsequent Apple products followed the Jobs philosophy, meaning the design was DICTATED, with NO opportunity for customization. I've always hated that attitude. It's no wonder that Apple has a small market share.
They have a small market because they didn't sell out like Microshits did. PRISM proved they wasn't sell out tell the other douch Tim Cook took over.
If you see a programmer when you arrive at work at 8 or 9, it mean they've been there from the night before!
Xerox Alto?
How the heck did they made run BASIC on that switchboard?
i love this doc, but within the first minute, he changes history
gates and allen did not create the personal computer
they created languages for the pc to use
as he loves to point out during the doc series "its all about the app"
a pc is just a box without the apps
And the people in this film couldn't have imagined how the market has evolved since then.
The computerindustry is represented by APPLE founder Steve Jobs and MICROSOFT Bill Gates
Those two really made progress in the computerindustry.
I can't programm, those two can and I like to work with their programms. Kind regards.
Let’s see Paul Allen’s business card.
These days I don't even know Wtf is a raspberry pi used importantly for and I'm old as heck inside... Lol. It's the evolving world...
The only thing I ever did with a raspberry pi was eat it and that still stands today.
1965 The Olivetti Programma 101 was the first Personal Computer
You're telling me the first ever personal computer was "lost in the mail"? Something smells real fishy.
Can anyone name this song at 45.23 please
IBM's open architecture,
MS's SW licensing, and
a bunch of loose-cannon nerds changed the world...
Me: I lived long enough to not need a documentary about computer evolution. 🤔
I had to watch this in college, in my computer science class.
The dancers belong to him? I don't think it works quite like that.
It’s called contracts another form of slavery
Hav you build owes zone roof otjer,then?
j mcmann
the dancers are the employees of a separate company - he owns the company - therefore the dancers
Kaylee F, Just how do you think it works ? Have any of them taken a knee during the star strangled banner ?
Is this from 1996?
This Is Gold
Very hard to make this video today, be easier to get an interview with God.
Its interesting how winners writes the History new, the Apple II was entering the Market on June 1977, but the Commodore PET was entering the Market on January 1977 on the Winter show CES. Hmm ok the first complete PC was not the Apple II it was the Commodore PET. damn
Bob Cringeworthy (not a typo) always ignores the contributions of RadioShack, Atari, and arguably the most significant player in the early personal computer revolution: Commodore. Too much emphasis on Microsoft and Apple. Yeah yeah, to the winners go the spoils and they write the history yadda yadda. Those are poor, intellectually vapid arguments.
You heard it here, folks: Woz is 'bout that coke life.
Graham Spencer sure is a Goofy looking dude
I wonder what Edwin Chen is doing now.
(And true)
Demand is never created, but rather is facilitated over time.
Correct That "Fell" With A "Feel.." ... Don't We FEEL Better Now?...
its educational
CRAPPLE...... Now that’s funny!
BSAIS topic here
Accounting information system
"at one time he ate nothing but fruit" Well, sounds like the kind of guy who'd use alt-medicine to cure cancer I guess... shame, but hey, sure accomplished a lot in the time he had.
Computer are cool :)
Wrong - Xerox PARC - invented everything - the "personal computer,GUI, mouse, bitmapped display, ethernet, object oriented programming, laser printer, WYSIWYG, natural language processing; all before the Apple I - which was a kit - and didn't even have a powersupply or keyboard.
When was this made?
'96 i think
Oh. XD
Timku San The mid 1990's
Max Mercury ooaos
Let’s see Paul Allen’s personal computer…
richie9a, I agree...I don't remember him or Gates inventing the PC
steve ballmer 😮
"Their µPs today power 85% of the world's computers" is no longer true... perhaps a 10% maybe? Nowadays that honour belongs to ARM. Intel lost the train of low power µPs...
Apple the first mass market computer company? What a twat, the first was Commodore with the PET which was the first mass market computer that didn't require someone else's equipment to make a full system, an off the shelf computer for the masses (all 1000 of them who wanted one in 1976 lol). Apple always played second fiddle to Commodre, first with the C64, then the Amiga 1000 then the Amiga 4000 040 (the most powerful CPU and graphics of any off the shelf desk top computer for sale in the world for a brief period when it was launched...and it wasn't an Apple Mac LC 040 that beat it lol)