The Dream Machine: J. C. R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal

by M. Mitchell Waldrop

CTSS had deep parallels to the notions of free speech in a political democracy, free competition in a market economy, and the free exchange of ideas in scientific research.

Compatible Time-Sharing System

Because Lick had come to computing from psychology, Fano explains—instead of through mathematics and engineering, like almost everyone else—he instinctively saw computers in relation to the workings of the human brain, rather than as an exercise in pure technology. And that, in turn, was why he was so quick to embrace computers as a way of enhancing human creativity and enriching human life. "It was a vision of man-machine interaction that was often unhampered by practical realities,"

the vision of man-machine interaction

Roberts used Wes Clark's TX-2 computer to experiment with compression algorithms for digital images. Those algorithms would later be used by NASA for space probes designed to send back images from the Moon, Mars, and other planets.

At one point in the mid-1970s, Goldman recalls, "I tried to explain Moore's law to one of them. Twice the power for half the price, and so on. Well, the guy just couldn't understand it. He said, 'Nothing could follow that kind of law!'

"Unix was the first really general-purpose operating system for minicomputers," he says. "It took off for two reasons. One, it was free. And two, Unix was the first operating system you could get source code [the full list of programming commands] for. You could hack it."

"poor man's Arpanet," a.k.a. Usenet.

Apple later estimated that VisiCalc was responsible for the sale of some twenty-five thousand units in the package's first year alone.

How other apps helped the Mac (or Lisa) initially

(Legend has it that when Jobs was later asked why the Lisa didn't have a networking port, he threw a floppy disk at the questioner and snarled, "There's my fucking network.")

Wow really?