The Xerox Alto, developed at Xerox PARC in 1973, was the first computer to use a mouse, the desktop metaphor, and a graphical user interface (GUI), concepts first introduced by Douglas Engelbart while at International. It was the first example of what would today be recognized as a complete personal computer.

Home computers were a class of microcomputers that entered the market in 1977 and became common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single, non-technical user.

Jan 24, 2022 · Developed by German engineer Konrad Zuse, the Z1 was the first computer to use binary codes to represent numbers. Completed in 1938, the machine’s revolutionary nature was overshadowed by the fact that its computations were far from reliable.

Nov 13, 2018 · When were the first home computers used? The key features of an accessible computer interface; The graphical user interface; What was the first commercial computer with a GUI? What was the impact of the Macintosh computer? What is the legacy of these machines today? Find out more

Jun 28, 2024 · When did these once-rarified machines make the leap into widespread home and school adoption? In this article, we‘ll explore the key milestones that transformed personal computers from hobbyist curiosities in the 1970s into the …

Apr 28, 2025 · The EDSAC – Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Computer – was developed at the University of Cambridge after the Second World War, and ran its first successful program on 6 May 1949. EDSAC was the first computer in the world to …

The first computer designed as a personal computer was the Alto of Xerox PARC – a design influenced by the TX-2. As important as many of the design concepts of the Alto would become to future personal computers, it was not the Alto that most influenced the early years of competition.

Apr 30, 2025 · The Altair offered the first opportunity for ordinary people to interact with their own computer at home, but only through a series of lights and toggle switches. But it was the computers mentioned above, all released in 1977, that …

Konrad Zuse (1910–1995) was a German civil engineer and pioneering computer scientist who built a series of machines that laid the foundation for the computers we use today.. Konrad Zuse. Image used courtesy of Wolfgang Hunscher, Dortmund via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)Frustrated by the slow and error-prone manual calculations in his engineering work, Zuse began to imagine a machine ...

Feb 14, 2025 · It’s fitting, then, that the first general-purpose electronic computer, ENIAC, or Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, was introduced to the world in 1946 on Valentine’s Day.