A Brief History of Computing

The Cambrian Explosion (1969-1999) In the beginning there was UNIX. Historians will correctly point out that there were computers before UNIX (1969). These historians are technically correct, which, as every IT professional knows, is the worst kind of correct. Before UNIX lay the Mainframe Era, a mysterious geological period populated by refrigerator-sized computers, punched cards, magnetic tape, and system operators who possessed powers indistinguishable from magic. Little documentation survives because it was printed on green-and-white tractor-feed paper that has since fossilized.