History of the Personal Computer

Alan Kay considers the LINC (1962) the first Personal Computer.

But most people think of Gates and Jobs when associations are made to the personal computer. This association is well deserved. Gates and Jobs developed major innovations that literally put the PC on the everyday person’s desk and made it mobile from there.

Bill Gates had the goal to put the personal computer into every home. It was at the young age of 13 that Gates began programming in Basic. Fifty Years of BASIC, the Programming Language That Made Computers Personal The computer programming language acronym BASIC stands for “Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code” The combination of Gates and BASIC started a technological revolution that is still playing out decades later.

Running parallel to Gates on the personal computer timeline and having at least an equal role in the PC revolution was Steve Jobs. Jobs and Wozniak introduced the Apple I board at the Homebrew Computer Club in March of 1976 and the rest as they say is History.