Get On, Clip In, Fall Off

History of Computing

Having been born in 1973, I sometimes find myself thinking that as far as computing is concerned I missed the true pioneer days. The late 1970s and early 80s, when intrepid hobbyists burnt their fingers soldering stuff together in their garages (or on their kitchen tables if they were in the UK, where the garage is generally too small or too cold for such things) and accidentally started major computer companies, were times when I was just too young to appreciate the significance of what computers were going to do in the future. They were neat toys to play games on, or maybe type in the occasional listing from PCW or Acorn User (which probably didn't work), or attempt to write programs of my own (which probably didn't work either). I'd even try the occasional hardware experiment (which usually didn't work either, except for causing damage). Ultimately, though, I just didn't have the patience to be a computer programmer.

Programmer or not I've been using computers ever since, and making my living from them more or less since I started working. One of the things which has always interested me is the history of computing. The story of how computers developed from the earliest piles of semi-mechanical metal through valves, transistors and succeeding generations of integrated circuits is a fascinating one not only because of the pace at which technology has progressed but because of the personalities involved. Apart from the pace of technical development and the human drama surrounding the breakneck pace at which the industry has moved, there are also the shifts in public attitudes in technology to consider, from the anything-goes attitudes of the early years of widespread computing to the privacy activism and, sometimes, downright mistrust of today as people start to wonder just what the outcome of the computer revolution will be.

It all makes for a fascinating story, and I'm rather surprised that other than within the rather restricted scope of series like Cringely's Triumph of the Nerds nobody seems to have filmed a definitive history of computing yet. Now would be a very good time for this to be done while memories are still fresh.

Hey, BBC - I've got a splendid idea for an epic 13-part documentary series! Can I present it? I'm good-looking, presentable, just the thing you're looking for, and hell, I know a little bit about computers...