The Nightmare in Silicon Valley: 8 horror technologies that should scare you to death
Every night is fright night with what can happen once these scary technologies take hold in ways that you may not have imagined.
Digital Equipment Corporation changed the business, the technology and the experience of computing. In memory of founder Ken Olsen, who died recently, we present this tour of DEC's 40-year life
One of the first computers widespread enough to spawn its own culture of acolytes, the PDP-8 was launched in 1965 and sold over 50,000 systems before the last model appeared in 1979.
In so doing, it launched the concept of the minicomputer. The term was coined by then DEC UK head John Leng, who sent a sales report saying, "Here is the latest minicomputer activity in the land of miniskirts as I drive around in my Mini Minor".
It also launched the illegal clone, as the computer was copied wholesale behind the Iron Curtain. A full list of the hardware and software firsts would fill a book; indeed, the design of the PDP-8 has been used to teach computer architecture for decades.
Caption by: Rupert Goodwins
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