Here’s a wonderful history of the Internet in a visually light and delightful form.
I’m not sure about the initial impression given of mainframes just before time-sharing kicked in. It wasn’t a step back to go to mainframes, because there wasn’t any kind of accessable ‘interactive’ computer prior to that…it was all punch cards, which was shockingly hard to develop in from all accounts (and no Google…how did they do it?).
On this general theme of computer history, one of my favorite reads of late was:
What the Dormouse Said: How the 60s Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer
Typically accounts of modern computer history (the PC) start at around 1970 with Apple and the usual suspects. What is interesting about this book is that it concentrates on the 2 decades prior to this, and details the pioneering work of Englebart (Human Augmentation Lab), McCarthy (SAIL, Stanfard Artificial Intelligence Laboratory) and a slew of other characters that emerged from the 60’s counter culture and shaped what became one of the most significant developments in modern history…the “personal” computer. What’s exciting about this read, for me, was that by all account many of the pioneering ideas have yet to be implemented. Certainly Alan Kay said the same thing to Doug, Scott and I as we drove him up to LAX last year, “go back and read Englebart! It’s all there.”
