Resistance is Futile

Microsoft continues to integrate Internet Explorer into its other product lines, including its Office and BackOffice family of products.  Microsoft Outlook 98 – like it’s cousin Outlook Express – uses Internet Explorer’s HTML parsing and rendering engine.  Therefore, if you install Outlook 98 onto a computer without version 4 or higher, Internet Explorer gets installed, as well.  Office 2000 extends this practice by including and using Internet Explorer 5 technologies.  This foundational approach makes sense.  Why reinvent the wheel (or in this case why re-write the code) if it already exists?  On the other hand, this also means that security issues that affect Internet Explorer more often than not also affect products which use its codebase.  This only adds to the already mounting challenges of maintaining a safe and secure operating environment.

 Internet Explorer 4 continues to be a popular browser.  Nearly two years after its release it is still the most popular version in use today.  It is feature-rich, user-friendly and highly configurable.  On March 18, 1999, Microsoft capitalized on version 4’s success with the release of Internet Explorer 5.  Before it was even released, over 2 million copies of the beta version were downloaded.  Version 5 isn’t too much of a departure from version 4.  It does add a some very nice features, but like its predecessors, it, too has security vulnerabilities.  In fact, it’s a pretty safe assumption that all future versions of Internet Explorer – as with any web browser – will be affected by one or more security issues.

So there you have it.  The history thus far of Internet Explorer.

How the Personal Computer Was Born

The Smithsonian Institution's "Information Age" exhibit in Washington has long had a section devoted to the early days of personal computing. One of the most prominently displayed early computers in the exhibit is a rare pre-production model of the famous Altair 8800. How that computer got from my Texas office to the Smithsonian Institution is a story worth telling.

The Altair computer sparked the personal when this magazine appeared on newsstands nearly three decades ago. Photograph by Forrest M. Mims III. Click image to enlarge.computing revolution

Twenty-five years ago Popular Electronics magazine featured on its cover a photograph of a build-it-yourself computer called the Altair 8800. An accompanying article by Ed Roberts described how to build the computer. You could even order a complete kit of parts for a little less than $400 from MITS, Inc., Roberts's company in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Bill Gates and Paul Allen were so excited by the Altair that they left Harvard and moved to Albuquerque. There they formed a tiny company called Microsoft and worked alongside Roberts at MITS to develop software for the Altair. It was 1975, and no one then could possibly have imagined that Bill Gates, an 18-year old college dropout who never slept and who always needed a haircut, would one day become the richest man on Earth.

At a time when business computers sold for tens of thousands of dollars, the Altair was a major breakthrough. Roberts and Gates understood that better than anyone else. Yet by today's standards, the Altair was unbelievably primitive. Instead of a keyboard, information was entered into a clumsy row of toggle switches. The Altair's "monitor screen" was a row of flashing red lights. You had to understand the binary number system to know what they meant.

That meant I had to learn binary, for Roberts asked me to write the Altair operator's manual. Since MITS was near bankruptcy, my fee would be one of the first Altairs. That Altair is the one that has been displayed at the Smithsonian for the past dozen or so years. In next week's column, I'll tell that story. But first, I want to tell you more about Ed Roberts and MITS, the company he and I began.

Roberts and I became friends in 1968 when we were assigned to the Air Force's state-of-the-art laser laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Roberts was a second lieutenant who had entered the service as an enlisted man and was commissioned when he received his college degree. I was a first lieutenant just back from a year as an intelligence officer in Vietnam.

While working at the laser lab, Roberts and I had long discussions about our common interests in science and electronics. Roberts used to say that his goals were to earn a million dollars before he reached 30, learn to fly, become a medical doctor and move to a farm in Georgia. Roberts also said that he wanted to design an inexpensive digital computer. None of us then realized that the invention of the computer-on-a-chip known as the microprocessor would eventually allow all of Ed Roberts's dreams to come true.

In 1969 I began writing articles on model rocketry and hobby electronics for various magazines. Being an entrepreneur at heart, Roberts noticed this and wondered if we could form a company to sell kits based on the projects I wrote about. We soon held a meeting in Ed's kitchen with two other guys from the lab, Stan Cagle and Bob Zaller. Within a few weeks we had formed Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems Inc. or simply MITS.

My job was to write magazine articles about how to build and use our products. My wife Minnie Minnie and Robert's wife Joan helped package the kits in blue plastic boxes. Our first product was a tiny light flasher I had designed for tracking and recovering test flights of guided model rockets at night.

The flasher circuit was based on a basic code-practice oscillator from Radio Shack that I had modified to send pulses to an infrared-emitting diode used in a miniature travel aid for the blind that I designed in 1966.

We sold a few hundred light flasher kits, but it soon became obvious that MITS needed a bigger market. So I wrote an article about how to build a device that would transmit your voice over a beam of invisible light. Popular Electronics magazine made the project one of their 1970 cover stories, and we sold a hundred or so kits. With this money we began work on a laser system for hobbyists, which was also published in Popular Electronics. Most of our customers were hobbyists, but we also received orders from universities, corporations and even the FBI,

The kit business eventually reached a break-even point. But MITS needed a product with much more appeal. Next time I'll tell you about that product and how it led directly to the Altair 8800.

Forgotten critics said the Altair was simple and plain. But Bill Gates looked inside and saw an electronic brain. 

Forrest M. Mims III is an independent scientist, writer and photographer.

This feature was originally published in Forrest Mims's weekly science column in the Seguin Gazette-Enterprise, Seguin, Texas. The column is written for a general audience.

A Brief History of Computers and Networks, Part II

n 1943 development begins on the Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer (ENIAC) in earnest at Penn State. Designed by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert of the Moore School, they get help from John von Neumann and others. In 1944, the Havard Mark I is introduced. Based on a series of proposals from Howard Aiken in the late 1930's, the Mark I computes complex tables for the U.S. Navy. It uses a paper tape to store instructions and Aiken hiresGrace Hopper("Amazing Grace") as one of three programmers working on the machine.Thomas J. Watson Sr. plays a pivotal role involving his company, IBM, in the machine's development.

Early in 1945, with the Mark I stopped for repairs, Hopper notices a moth in one of the relays, possibly causing the problem. From this day on, Hopper refers to fixing the system as "debugging". The same year Von Neumann proposes the concept of a "stored program" in a paper that is never officially published.

Work completes on ENIAC in 1946. Although only three years old the machine is woefully behind on technology, but the inventors opt to continue while working on a more modern machine, the EDVAC. Programming ENIAC requires it to be rewired. A later version eliminates this problem. To make the machine appear more impressive to reporters during its unveiling, a team member (possibly Eckert) puts translucent spheres(halved ping pong balls) over the lights. The US patent office will later recognize this as the first computer.

The next year scientists employed by Bell Labs complete work on the transistor (John Bardeen,Walter Brattain and William Shockley receive the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956), and by 1948 teams around the world work on a "stored program" machine. The first, nicknamed "Baby", is a prototype of a much larger machine under construction in Britain and is shown in June 1948.

The impetus over the next 5 years for advances in computers is mostly the government and military. UNIVAC, delivered in 1951 to the Census Bureau, results in a tremendous financial loss to its manufacturer, Remington-Rand. The next year Grace Hopper, now an employee of that company proposes "reuseable software," code segments that could be extracted and assembled according to instructions in a "higher level language." The concept of compiling is born. Hopper would revise this concept over the next twenty years and her ideas would become an integral part of all modern computers. CBS uses one of the 46 UNIVAC computers produced to predict the outcome of the 1952 Presidential Election. They do not air the prediction for 3 hours because they do not trust the machine.

Small portion of the IBM 701 Courtesy IBM

IBM introduces the 701 the following year. It is the first commercially successful computer. In 1956 FORTRAN is introduced(proposed 1954, it takes nearly 3 years to develop the compiler). Two additional languages, LISP and COBOL, are added in 1957 and 1958. Other early languages include ALGOL and BASIC. Although never widely used, ALGOL is the basis for many of today's languages.

With the introduction of Control Data's CDC1604 in 1958, the first transistor powered computer, a new age dawns. Brilliant scientist Seymour Cray heads the development team. This year integrated circuits are introduced by two men, Jack Kilby andJohn Noyce, working independently. The second network is developed at MIT. Over the next three years computers begin affecting the day-to-day lives of most Americans. The addition of MICR characters at the bottom of checks is common.

In 1961 Fairchild Semiconductor introduces the integrated circuit. Within ten years all computers use these instead of the transistor. Formally building sized computers are now room-sized, and are considerably more powerful. The following year the Atlas becomes operational, displaying many of the features that make today's systems so powerful including virtual memory, pipeline instruction execution and paging. Designed at the University of Manchester, some of the people who developed Colossus thirty years earlier make contributions.

On April 7, 1964, IBM introduces the System/360. While a technical marvel, the main feature of this machine is business oriented...IBM guarantees the "upward compatibility" of the system, reducing the risk that a business would invest in outdated technology. Dartmouth College, where the first network was demonstrated 25 years earlier, moves to the forefront of the "computer age" with the introduction of TSS(Time Share System) a crude(by today's standards) networking system. It is the first Wide Area Network. In three years Randy Golden, President and Founder of Golden Ink, would begin working on this network.

Within a year MIT returns to the top of the intellectual computer community with the introduction of a greatly refined network that features shared resources and uses the first minicomputer(DEC's PDP-8) to manage telephone lines. Bell Labs and GE play major roles in its design.

In 1969 Bell Labs, unhappy with the direction of the MIT project, leaves and develops its own operating system, UNIX. One of the many precursors to today's Internet, ARPANet, is quietly launched. Alan Keys, who will later become a designer for Apple, proposes the "personal computer." Also in 1969, unhappy with Fairchild Semiconductor, a group of technicians begin discussing forming their own company. This company, formed the next year, would be known as Intel. The movie Colossus:The Forbin Project has a supercomputer as the villain. Next year, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes was the first feature length movie with the word computer in the title. In 1971, Texas Instruments introduces the first "pocket calculator." It weighs 2.5 pounds.

With the country embroiled in a crisis of confidence known as Watergate, in 1973 a little publicized judicial decision takes the patent for the computer away from Mauchly and Eckert and awards it to Atanasoff. Xerox introduces the mouse. Proposals are made for the first local area networks.

In 1975 the first personal computer is marketed in kit form. The Altair features 256 bytes of memory. Bill Gates, with others, writes a BASIC compiler for the machine. The next year Apple begins to market PC's, also in kit form. It includes a monitor and keyboard. The earliest RISC platforms become stable. In 1976, Queen Elizabeth goes on-line with the first royal email message.

During the next few years the personal computer explodes on the American scene. Microsoft, Apple and many smaller PC related companies form (and some die). By 1977 stores begin to sell PC's. Continuing today, companies strive to reduce the size and price of PC's while increasing capacity. Entering the fray, IBM introduces it's PC in 1981(it's actually IBM's second attempt, but the first failed miserably). Time selects the computer as its Man of the Year in 1982.Tron, a computer-generated special effects extravaganza is released the same year.

A Brief History of Computers and Networks,

Webster's Dictionary defines "computer" as any programmable electronic device that can store, retrieve, and process data. The basic idea of computing develops in the 1200's when a Moslem cleric proposes solving problems with a series of written procedures.

As early as the 1640's mechanical calculators are manufactured for sale. Records exist of earlier machines, but Blaise Pascal invents the first commercial calculator, a hand powered adding machine. Although attempts to multiply mechanically were made by Gottfried Liebnitz in the 1670s the first true multiplying calculator appears in Germany shortly before the American Revolution.

In 1801 a Frenchman, Joseph-Marie Jacquard builds a loom that weaves by reading punched holes stored on small sheets of hardwood. These plates are then inserted into the loom which reads (retrieves) the pattern and creates(process) the weave. Powered by water, this "machine" came 140 years before the development of the modern computer.

Ada Lovelace

Shortly after the first mass-produced calculator(1820), Charles Babbage begins his lifelong quest for a programmable machine. Although Babbage was a poor communicator and record-keeper, his difference engine is sufficiently developed by 1842 that Ada Lovelace uses it to mechanically translate a short written work. She is generally regarded as the first programmer. Twelve years later George Boole, while professor of Mathematics at Cork University, writes An Investigation of the Laws of Thought(1854), and is generally recognized as the father of computer science.

The 1890 census is tabulated on punch cards similar to the ones used 90 years earlier to create weaves. Developed by Herman Hollerith of MIT, the system uses electric power(non-mechanical). The Hollerith Tabulating Company is a forerunner of today's IBM.

Just prior to the introduction of Hollerith's machine the first printing calculator is introduced. In 1892 William Burroughs, a sickly ex-teller, introduces a commercially successful printing calculator. Although hand-powered, Burroughs quickly introduces an electronic model.

In 1925, unaware of the work of Charles Babbage, Vannevar Bush of MIT builds a machine he calls the differential analyzer. Using a set of gears and shafts, much like Babbage, the machine can handle simple calculus problems, but accuracy is a problem.

The period from 1935 through 1952 gets murky with claims and counterclaims of who invents what and when. Part of the problem lies in the international situation that makes much of the research secret. Other problems include poor record-keeping, deception and lack of definition.

In 1935, Konrad Zuse, a German construction engineer, builds a mechanical calculator to handle the math involved in his profession. Shortly after completion, Zuse starts on a programmable electronic device which he completes in 1938.

John Vincent Atanasoff Courtesy Jo Campbell The Shore Journal

John Vincent Atanasoff begins work on a digital computer in 1936 in the basement of the Physics building on the campus of Iowa State. A graduate student, Clifford (John) Berry assists. The "ABC" is designed to solve linear equations common in physics. It displays some early features of later computers including electronic calculations. He shows it to others in 1939 and leaves the patent application with attorneys for the school when he leaves for a job in Washington during World War II. Unimpressed, the school never files and ABC is cannibalized by students.

The Enigma Courtesy U. S. Army

The Enigma, a complex mechanical encoder is used by the Germans and they believe it to be unbreakable. Several people involved, most notably Alan Turing, conceive machines to handle the problem, but none are technically feasible. Turing proposes a "Universal Machine" capable of "computing" any algorithm in 1937. That same year George Steblitz creates his Model K(itchber 11, 1940, Steblitz uses a teletype machine at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire to transmit a problem to his Complex Number Calculator in New York and receives the results. It is the first example of a network.

First in Poland, and later in Great Britain and the United States, the Enigma code is broken. Information gained by this shortens the war. To break the code, the British, led by Touring, build the Colossus Mark I. The existence of this machine is a closely guarded secret of the British Government until 1970. The United States Navy, aided to some extent by the British, builds a machine capable of breaking not only the German code but the Japanese code as en), a conglomeration of otherwise useless and leftover material, to solve complex calculations. He improves the design while working at Bell Labs and on Septem

History of Computers

The development of the modern day computer was the result of advances in technologies and man's need to quantify. Papyrus helped early man to record language and numbers. The abacus was one of the first counting machines.. 
Some of the earlier mechanical counting machines lacked the technology to make the design work. For instance, some had parts made of wood prior to metal manipulation and manufacturing. Imagine the wear on wooden gears. This history of computers site includes the names of early pioneers of math and computing and links to related sites about the History of Computers, for further study. This site would be a good Web adjunct to accompany any book on the History of Computers or Introduction to Computers. The "H" Section includes a link to the History of the Web Beginning at CERN which includes Bibliography and Related Links. Hitmill.com strives to always include related links for a broader educational experience. The material was originally divided into

How are computers linked from the internet to the world wide web? Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_are_computers_linked_from_the_internet_to_the_world_wide_web#ixzz17XpLBRoq

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Computers & Internet

Introduced in the 1940s, the computer has become one of the most predominant electronic devices to come out of the field of technology. Computers have assisted users in the home, business and government sects of society in performing a variety of tasks, such as word processing and financial planning, more efficiently. Users are able to accomplish many of these computer functions more readily by enlisting the infinite services provided by the Internet. Explore the Internet world and its impact on society. Learn more about the evolution of the computer and how its technology continues to change our world.