Continuing our discussion of the hardware that has changed humanity forever, we next take a look at the medium contenders on our list. These are pieces that were much more ground-shattering than the previous three, but fail to reach the heights that our top three have. Hardware listed here follows a particular order - this list details the countdown starting at number 6:
The concept of plug-and-play was brought to the world with the creation of the USB standard connector. The idea raised a few eyebrows at the time, but they couldn’t have foreseen what a juggernaut the USB industry has become in modern times.
Originally, the USB was designed as a secondary connector that was much faster than the parallel port in the back of the computer to hook up everything from printers to adapters, everything peripheral would now go through the USB connector. This was especially important because of the USB’s “hot-swapping” ability. Connect any device through USB and you can disconnect and reconnect it as many times as you please without the need to reboot your PC.
Once you combine the fact that the USB could hook up peripherals without a reboot to the fact that it could also serve as a memory interface for flash drives, external hard drives, and the like, you discover why the USB is what it is today. Currently, my desktop has more than five USB devices connected to it – a testament to the idea that one day, we would see a USB powered future.
Everything changed because of the USB. Due to the USB, you now have printer salesmen trying to squeeze an extra $30 out of you for a cable. Due to the USB, flash drives are now the standard rather than floppies or zip disks. Due to the USB, your entire PC setup can be completely wireless – keyboards, mice, and Bluetooth devices all go through your USB in adapter form.
The computer wouldn’t be what it is today without the use of USB enabled devices, but that’s almost moot compared to…
Where USB is the evolution of the serial bus and parallel port technology, nothing has impacted the PC the way the floppy did. It was the first device that let us dream of sharing information with one another. The floppy was ridiculously small and unable to realistically achieve the goal that the USB is capable of today. However, for the time, it was the only way to get movies, music, and games, and it’s higher on our list because while USB Flash Drives are now the norm, the floppy was the one who started it all.