They may be much more powerful today but computers in the distant past were based on much the same logic. Storage, memory, and processing worked then much as it works now.
The concepts of computer memory, storage, and processing have not changed much in the last 40 years. Certainly, these components have become faster, more efficient, and cheaper but the core concepts of computing have not changed. The first true microcomputers were expensive and difficult to program. However, these facts alone did not dictate the adoption of computers for tasks other than business. Adoption of microcomputers by individual users did not evolve until people began to see the benefits of home computers.
First and second-generation computers were the typical room or building-sized behemoths that arose out of the technologies of the 1940s and 1950s. The earliest of these computers were nothing more than calculators taking hours or days to do what a $5 calculator today can do in seconds. The third and fourth generation computers bear the most striking resemblance to modern computers. New technologies and new paradigms in implementing these technologies led to graphical user interfaces such as Microsoft Windows, the concept of hard drives rather than magnetic tape storage, and later, the concept of optical drives such as CDs and DVDs.
In the early 1960s, large computers were giving way to smaller, compact computing devices. This paradigm shift was introduced by the move from vacuum tubes to solid state devices. This alone made the computer capable of occupying much less space making the integration of computers into business much more practical. Solid state later gave way to printed circuit boards making computers even smaller.
At over $7,000 apiece, Data General’s Nova computer had a huge impact on the world of computing. This computer was one of the first 16-bit computers to implement the 8-bit word byte used today. Although technically a minicomputer, the Nova paved the way for home microcomputers during the fourth generation computing era.
In the early 1970s, home users got their first taste of home computing with Don Lancaster’s TV Typewriter. Not much more than its name implies, the TV Typewriter allowed users to store about 100 pages of text using a cassette tape. For the first time, users got to see their typed pages on an electronic device. Although not terribly practical, devices such as these planted the seeds in the minds of future users that computing was not just for large corporations and governments. Computing could be a useful tool in the home as well.