If you really think about it, computers are a marvel and proof that human genius has gone very far. Nowadays, you can go online and do just about anything, including creating online documents, converting files, and communicating instantly. If you are fascinated by technology, you can take the next step and learn all about computers.
This article will list several facts about computers that you may find fascinating.
1. Around 70% of Virus Engineers Work for Organized Crime Syndicates
People can engineer computer viruses, which can seriously affect your computer and your data. A computer virus is a malicious computer code that can spread across devices. This virus can then damage your device or steal important data.
The ability of computer viruses to infect files and stop your computer from working becomes especially concerning once you find out that most of the virus engineers out there work with an organized system of crime.
2. HP, Microsoft, and Apple All Started in a Garage
What is it about garages that have inspired entrepreneurs to create the huge technology firms that we see today? HP, Microsoft, and Apple all have the same humble beginnings by starting in a garage.
HP – or the Hewlett-Packard Company – started in 1939 in a Palo Alto garage. After they graduated from Stanford University as electrical engineers, Dave Hewlett and Dave Packard started working in a rented garage on the company.
Microsoft, started by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, managed to land a deal in 1980 to provide the operating system for IBM’s first personal computer. In a matter of a few years, Microsoft became the world’s largest company providing personal-computer software, and is still highly popular today.
3. The First 1GB Disk Drive Weighed 550 Pounds
If you look at disk drives today, you’ll see that they are very small and light, easily carried everywhere. When IBM created the very first 1GB disk drive in 1980, however, it weighed a whopping 550 pounds. It was as big as a refrigerator, too, which made moving it around quite impossible for the average person.
Not only that, but the disk drive would cost $40,000, whereas a Microsoft drive today would cost around $500.
4. For 20 Years, US Nuclear Launch Codes Was OOOOOOOO
Nuclear codes were useful to prevent unauthorized usage of nuclear weapons. The only person who can actually decide to launch a nuclear missile will be the president of the United States, which makes the security of the codes even more important.
This is why it may come as a surprise that the password of the computers for the nuclear missile launches in the United States was, for two decades, 00000000. This was what the passcode was during the peak of the Cold War, too, and it wasn’t really a secret from the crew who were managing the silos.
5. A Woman Was the First Known Computer Programmer
Nowadays, people consider Lady Ada Lovelace as the world’s first known computer programmer. Her mother encouraged her to learn Mathematics and logical problems, and her father was the famous poet Lord Byron.
She was known to have written the world’s first machine algorithm for a computing machine.
6. Creeper is the First Ever Computer Virus
Another one of the fun facts about computers is the first-ever computer virus.
Bob Thomas made ‘Creeper’, which is also the name of a character on Scooby-Doo, in 1971. The virus made computer screens display the phrase: ‘I’m the creeper, catch me if you can!’
The Creeper virus was a worm, which meant that it would replicate and spread to other computer systems. The virus wasn’t particularly harmful or stole any form of data. Instead, all it did was display that message.
The inventor limited Creeper to realms of research and so was not intended to cause harm or replicate beyond the scientific study. A 15-year old created the first-ever wild virus called Elk Cloner which impacted Apple II computers.
7. John Lasseter Was Fired for Promoting Computer Animation
Disney fired John Lasseter in 1979 for promoting the idea of computer animation. At that time, Disney’s main focus was on hand-drawn animation work, while Lasseter believed that computer programming was the future of animation.
After this, John Lasseter went on to co-found Pixar, which created movies such as The Incredibles. In 2006, Disney bought Pixar and placed Lasseter in charge of the Walt Disney Animation Studios.
8. Nearly 85% of All Emails Are Spam
If you have an email, you’ll notice how much spam you receive daily. It’s a problem that almost everyone has encountered, and the statistics confirm this. In fact, nearly 85% of all emails are spam, which makes almost 122 billion spam emails globally every day.
While this number keeps changing, the amount of spam email has currently been declining – which is perhaps good news for you!
9. The First Computer Mouse Was Wooden
Douglas Engelbart created the first computer mouse in 1963. It was part of an experiment to see whether there was a better way to click on display screens and immediately blew up in popularity. And, just like the first computer, it was made out of wood.
Fascinating Facts About Computers
Computers are a huge part of our daily lives, but not a lot of people know some of the most interesting facts about computers. The fact that the first disk drive was $40,000, for instance, is something that we can find hard to imagine in this day and age.
There’s no shortage of exciting things you can learn about computers, and technology is only going to keep getting more sophisticated.
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