Communication Technology Update, 9th Edition

10

Personal Computers

Chris Roberts M.A.^*

It has been more than two decades since Time declared the computer its “Machine of the Year” (Friedrich, 1983). Computers of that era are silicon dinosaurs compared with the faster, more powerful, and productive machines of today. While personal computers remained a novelty at the start of the 1980s, the machines have become ubiquitous commodities at the start of the 21st century. Consider that:

• In 1983, companies sold 2.8 million personal computers worldwide. In 2003, sales reached 152.7 million units worldwide (IDC, 2004).
• In 1983, the fastest processing chip made by industry giant Intel Corporation ran at 12 million cycles per second (Old-computers.com, 2004). In early 2004, the newest desktop computer ...