The personal computer is such an integral part of life today that it may be hard to believe it is not even forty years old. Though the idea of a personal computer has existed at least since the 1960s… the term “personal computer” was first used in a November 1963 article in the New York Times… it remained a futuristic concept, no more real than flying cars, until the early 1970s. It would take another two to three decades for the personal computer to become a common fixture of home life in many parts of the world.
The world’s first computers were developed around the dawn of World War II. During the war, the machines were used for military purposes in Britain, Germany, and the United States. After the war, computers were increasingly used by governments, universities, and large businesses throughout the industrialized world. Big enough to fill a whole room and prohibitively expensive, those early computers bore little resemblance to anything an individual could own for personal use.
Personal computers could not come into existence until the invention of the microprocessor revolutionized how computers processed data. Prior to the 1970s, all computers operated on either a mainframe system or a time sharing system. Both types of system required all data processed by computers to be filtered through a central location. Similar to early telephone systems, which did not allow for direct dialing, requiring calls to be placed through an operator instead, early computers could not be operated directly by the programmer.
In the case of mainframe systems, operators had to physically input the data provided by computer programmers and run the machine, and they could only run one program from one computer at a time. The time sharing system, invented in the 1960s, sped up this process by enabling multiple computer users to process their data through the same location more or less simultaneously. Variations of these systems are still used in many places where multiple computers are connected, such as universities, businesses, and libraries.
The microprocessor, introduced in the early 1970s, moved the capacity to process data into the computer itself. Now, just as one could pick up the phone and make a call without contacting the operator, a computer programmer could feed data directly into the machine and run the program with no need for an operator’s assistance. The introduction of the microprocessor also made computers much cheaper to manufacture. As a result, the price of a computer became affordable to at least well-to-do individuals for the first time. The first personal computers were bought mainly by hobbyists and researchers.
The home computer grew more popular and more affordable during the 1980s. That decade saw the rise of Apple, Macintosh, and IBM, all of which remain recognizable brand names today. Companies such as Atari, Tandy Corporation, Commodore, and Texas Instruments (TI) were also big players on the home computer market between the late 1970s and mid 1980s, but have since been pushed out of the market.
By the dawn of the 21st century, practically everyone in the developed world and many people in the developing world were using personal computers. In 2002, over 500 million personal computers were in use. Over a billion had been sold worldwide since the 1970s. About 75% of those billion computers were used professionally, with the rest being bought for personal use. About half of all households in western Europe had at least one personal computer. Worldwide, many people without their own computers were making ample use of internet cafes. Today, with laptops dominating the market, personal computer use continues to grow.