Triumph of the Nerds: Impressing their Friends

In the film “Triumph of the Nerds: Impressing their Friends”, it spoke about the emergence of the Personal Computer (PC), stimulating the “PC Revolution”. And it was all started by nerds.

Earlier computers were not convenient. They were big, bulky, and required special care. Besides that, the operators need to learn a bunch of codes in order to operate it. And to add to the problem, every computer used different codes, known as “machine language”. It was not until Grace Hopper created the “computer language”, making the computer a bit more user friendly. Initially, computers were not given much attention. But some did take notice, the “nerds”. Microprocessors were soon created by Intel, replacing transistors and vacuum tubes, and it rolled the ball for what would be the “PC Revolution”.

Nevertheless, Intel did not make good use of it creation, using it only for calculators etc, but someone did come up with something. In 1975, Ed Roberts introduced the world’s first PC, the Altair 8800. This stimulated the founding of computer clubs, one of them being the “Homebrew Club”. But it was practically useless, until Paul Allen came up with a “basic interpreter” or software for it, known as “Basic”. After a successful demonstration with “Basic” using the Altair, Paul Allen team up with Bill Gates and founded Microsoft in Albuquerque. Soon, by the end of 1975, a few companies producing micro-computer cropped out.

The computer industry might not have taken off, if it were not for the Hippies. They caused the development of the PC industry. And in the “Homebrew Club”, a PC computer called Apple was founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

Apple had a shaky beginning, but Steve Jobs turned to venture capital for funding. The result is the “Apple II”. The “Apple II” was a hit, being brilliantly designed by Steve Jobs. Sales and profits were so good that Apple soon have more money than they can spend. But the PC was still mostly for hobbyist. Then came the software and applications, which made the PC more useful. The first to appear is the spread sheet, VISICALC. At it came just at the right time, at a time when the commercial world was booming, and a spread sheet program was proofing to be really useful.

The PC industry was developing rapidly, where a billion dollar industry was growing in Silicon Valley. PC companies have mushroomed to meet the enormous demand, but still Apple dominated the scene.