Inventions and Innovations in Computing Technology

While the argument can be made that as the backbone of the computer industry, the Jacquard loom and Charles Babbage's computing engine represented the two most important inventions and innovations in computer technology, the past 200 years have witnessed the introduction of numerous inventions and innovations in computing technology that compete for the title. Although singling out the most important is a highly subjective enterprise, a convincing argument can also be made that out of these many inventions and innovations, the two that stand out as being the most significant are the introduction of a user-friendly computer interface in the early 1980s and the World Wide Web in 1991 as described further below.

Prior to the introduction of Windows by Microsoft in the early 1980s, personal computers were limited in their usability. At best, most personal computer users during this period were restricted to...
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