Personal Computer

Before cell phones that fit in the palm of your hand and slim laptops that fit snugly into briefcases, computers were like strange, alien vending machines. They had cryptic switches, punch cards, and pages of encoded output. But in 1975, a young engineering wizard named Steve Wozniak had an idea: What if you combined computer circuitry with a regular typewriter keyboard and a video screen?

In the 1970s, while their contemporaries were protesting the computer as a tool of dehumanization and oppression, a motley collection of college dropouts, hippies, and electronics fanatics were engaged in something much more subversive. Obsessed with the idea of getting computer power into their own hands, they launched from their garages a hobbyist movement that grew into an industry, and ultimately a social and technological revolution.

In today's world, where technology permeates every aspect of our lives, it's not surprising that we find ourselves drawing parallels between the workings of our minds and the functionalities of personal computers. As we immerse ourselves in a digital age, it becomes increasingly apparent that our creations reflect our own nature.

This is the story of how a handful of geeks and mavericks dragged the computer out of corporate back rooms and laboratories and into our living rooms and offices. It is a tale not only of extraordinary innovation and vision but also of cunning business deals, boardroom tantrums and acrimonious lawsuits.

Skip the iPhone, the iPod, and the Macintosh. If you want to understand how Apple Inc. became an industry behemoth, look no further than the 1977 Apple II. The Apple II was a versatile piece of hardware, but its most compelling story isn't found in the feat of its engineering, the personalities of Apple's founders, or the way it set the stage for the company's multibillion-dollar future. Instead, historian Laine Nooney shows, what made the Apple II iconic was its software.

今回高木利弘氏がスペシャルトークを行うお相手は、クロケーコーポレーションの大島芳樹氏です。

このオーディオブックが生まれたのは、スティーブ・ジョブズという人がどのような人生を歩んできたのかということについて、一度語っておく必要があるのではないかという話がきっかけでした。それが元MACLIFE編集長の高木利弘氏とテクノロジーライターの大谷和利氏という、最適任のお二人の協力を得て動き出しました。第2夜はまず「ジョブとパーソナル・コンピュータ創世記」についてお二人が語ります。パーソナル・コンピュータそのものの始まりやジョブズの生い立ちについても触れられています。今日に続く長い道のりの第一歩のお話です。(C) Pamlink Corp.