This compact history traces the computer industry from its origins in 1950s mainframes, through the establishment of standards beginning in 1965 and the introduction of personal computing in the 1980s. It concludes with the Internet’s explosive growth since 1995. Across these four periods, Martin Campbell-Kelly and Daniel Garcia-Swartz describe the steady trend toward miniaturization and explain its consequences for the bundles of interacting components that make up a computer system. With miniaturization, the price of computation fell and entry into the industry became less costly. Companies supplying different components learned to cooperate even as they competed with other businesses for market share. Simultaneously with miniaturization—and equally consequential—the core of the computer industry shifted from hardware to software and services. Companies that failed to adapt to this trend were left behind. Governments did not turn a blind eye to the activities of entrepreneurs. The U.S. government was the major customer for computers in the early years. Several European governments subsidized private corporations, and Japan fostered R&D in private firms while protecting its domestic market from foreign competition. From Mainframes to Smartphones is international in scope and broad in its purview of this revolutionary industry.

Originally a military and scientific computational tool of a small number of government, scientific, and corporate elites in the late 1940s, the computer industry has evolved significantly in less than seventy years and has become one of the largest industries in America.

The development of the first electronic digital computers in the 1940s signaled the beginning of a new and distinctive type of industry—an industry marked by competition through innovation, and by the large percentage of revenues spent on research and development. Written as a companion volume to Targeting the Computer: Government Support and International Competition, this comprehensive volume provides a new understanding to the complex forces that have shaped the computer industry during the past four decades. Kenneth Flamm identifies the origins of technologies important to the creation of computers and traces the roots of individual technologies to the specific research groups and programs responsible for major advances. He evaluates the impact of these innovations on industrial competition and argues that the emergence of specialization and product differentiation in the 1950s and the compatibility and standards in the mid-1960s were key factors defining this competition. Flamm also identifies the various market strategies adopted in later decades to challenge an industry leader, strategies linked to the entry and exit of individual firms. In addition to the effects of technology and internal industry developments, international competition and national policies on technology, trade, and investment shaped the evolution of this new industry. Flamm documents the role of government support for technology in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan and describes the critical technological and economic links between national and international markets. Finally, he links these strategies, technological trends, and national policies to one another and shows how they continue to influence current developments in the computer industry.

A few lawsuits have changed the entire shape of the computer industry as nearly every aspect of computers has come under litigation. These courtroom battles have confused not only computer and legal amateurs, but lawyers, juries, and judges too. The result has been illogical legal opinions, reversals on appeal, and an environment in which the outcome of key legal battles is not only unpredictable but could change the industry's direction yet again. Graham surveys the past and shows how it points to the future. He illustrates how the absence of statutes specifically protecting software has frequently forced courts to simultaneously create and apply the law. Graham covers the whole spectrum of computer hardware and software, addressing the litigation that affected each part of the product chain. In 23 chapters he cuts through the legalese while still offering enough substance to introduce lawyers unfamiliar with intellectual property law to the evolving legal landscape of this dynamic and contentious industry. No prior legal background is required to understand Graham's presentation, however. The result is a comprehensive and fascinating study of this newest of new century industries, and a book that will guide —and caution!— anyone now in it or who expects to be a part of it tomorrow. Graham shows how the course of litigation in the computer industry has substantially paralleled the growth of the industry itself. Yet, while computer law has been an active field, it is also an unpredictable one. The law governing computers was particularly sketchy prior to 1976, Graham explains, when it was unclear whether programmers had any legal rights to the software they developed. In l976 Congress modified the statutes to specify that software was indeed eligible but unfortunately offered little guidance to the courts on how to apply copyright laws to software. With each lawsuit the courts added to the sketchy foundation of copyright laws, developing the law as they went along. Graham shows that because the courts have so often made the law as they applied it, many computer-related lawsuits had an especially profound impact on the industry. By outlining this history of the development of computer law and its effect on the computer industry, Graham provides a broad outline of the state of computer law today, and a fascinating look at the industry itself.

“This makes entertaining reading. Many accounts of the birth of personal computing have been written, but this is the first close look at the drug habits of the earliest pioneers.” —New York Times Most histories of the personal computer industry focus on technology or business. John Markoff’s landmark book is about the culture and consciousness behind the first PCs—the culture being counter– and the consciousness expanded, sometimes chemically. It’s a brilliant evocation of Stanford, California, in the 1960s and ’70s, where a group of visionaries set out to turn computers into a means for freeing minds and information. In these pages one encounters Ken Kesey and the phone hacker Cap’n Crunch, est and LSD, The Whole Earth Catalog and the Homebrew Computer Lab. What the Dormouse Said is a poignant, funny, and inspiring book by one of the smartest technology writers around.

bull; The must-have reference for every technical writer, editor, and documentation manager bull; Provides all the information you need to document hardware, software, or other computer products bull; Written by award-winning documentation experts at Sun Technical Publications, Read Me First! is the most comprehensive guide to creating documentation that is clear, consistent, and easy to understand