The LHC rap

The real history of the personal computer

A friend sent me a link to an excellent recounting of the real roots of the personal computer in an article on the Computer World site. In the article, Forgotten PC history: The true origins of the personal computer, Lamont Woods recounts the creation in San Antonio of the CPU that would eventually become the Intel 8008, the primordial ancestor of the hearts of the vast majority of today's personal computers. The similarities between what happened with CTC/Datapoint -- Intel interaction related to computer hardware and the Digital Research -- Microsoft interaction related to software struck me as I read this piece. It even continues with a couple of the people involved with these creations, Tim Patterson and Federico Faggin, although Faggin got the far shorter end of the stick from Intel than Patterson did from Microsoft.