John McSweeney
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OU Courses
The PC
- About this section
- Software and Hardware
- Computer Power
- Types of Computer
- Accidental Empires, Ch. 3
- Intel and the Microprocessor
- Accidental Empires, Ch. 4
- The start of the PC industry
- Accidental Empires, Xerox PARC
- Xerox PARC continued
- IBM and the PC
- IBM and the Clones
- Apple and the Mac
- Windows OS/2 and Networking
The Internet
- About this section
- What is the Internet?
- ARPANET
- ARPANET and Systems Thinking
- ARPANET Protocols
- ARPANET to Internet
- Anatomy of a packet
- TCP/IP and packets
- Packet handling
- Origins of the Web
- The World Wide Web
Essays
- The Operating System and the PC
- TCP/IP and the growth of the Internet
- Gary Kildall
- Ted Nelson and Tim Berners-Lee
Miscellaneous
May 25, 2013, 1:13 pm
T171 You, Your Computer and the Net
Introduction
The last presentation of T171 was given in February 2005. The OU replaced it with a new course T175, Networked Living, in October 2005. In the meantime I hope that some of these pages will continue to be of use, not only to those currently studying T175, but also to anyone with an interest in the history of computing and the Internet.
Most of this material was intially written in 2000, when I studied the course, and consists of notes and essays on the development of the PC and the Internet.
I edited and made revisions to a number of pages in 2005, added new material and updated many of the links. Consequently many of the references made to "current", or "recent" developments, are likely to appear somewhat outdated and will need to be seen in context.
The scope of the course was considerable. Looking back on my notes, I rediscovered the Xerox PARC story. I recalled my admiration for Wozniak and Jobs' development of Apple. Ultimately though, it is the impact made by Gates and Microsoft that impresses. The story of the PC is surely the story of Microsoft.
And the Internet? What began as a project by a group of computer scientists and engineers working for the US Department of Defense, has radically changed the lives of millions. Its reach expands without faltering, its global impact barely comprehensible. The story to be found here is indeed a fascinating one.