The Changing Face of Hardware


January 23, 2017 Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Google+ Technology



Quick: what’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word hardware? Probably the toolbox in the garage or the Saturday afternoon trips to pick up nails for a repair project. Well, that was then and this is now. And, now hardware more often than not refers to computers. Computer hardware earned its name quite simply: software, after all, comprises of the programming of a computer, so it~s only natural the hard box be called the hardware.

The birth of the computer industry gave hardware a whole new definition for newer generations. Whereas hardware is the actual box and components that make up the computer, software is the exact opposite as it controls the programming inside the hardware.

Computers began their climb to massive popularity in the 1970s. Little did one know that the millions of components that make up the computer could provide users with the ability to do so much: from writing and saving documents to creating full-length videos. Hardware can easily be added, deleted and exchanged on personal and business computers. The potential of a computer~s uses is only limited by one~s innovation, creativity and ability.

Soon, however, the 10 MB hard disk was introduced for home use, so floppies were no longer needed to make backups.
Unfortunately, 10 MB still didn~t hold that much data. The gigabyte was right around the corner, though, which would allow personal computer users to store more information than anyone ever dreamed possible. The 10 MB evolved to the 100 MB disk, and before anyone knew it, the gigabyte was introduced. Today, people can purchase and use 100-gigabyte disks.

The first personal computers hit the shelves in the 1980s and were a far cry from the computers of the 21st century.
When the personal computer first appeared, users only had the option of using a floppy disk, and it would take as many as 75 disks to save the pages of a novel one has written.
Yet, despite the enormous amount of disk space, this was certainly a vast improvement over using a typewriter.

There was a word whispered about in murmurs in computer circles back then: Gigabyte! It meant something so huge in size that the human mind couldn~t quite grasp it. Then it happened. A 100 MB hard disk evolved into a 1 Gigabyte hard disk. People wondered if it could possibly be reliable. And while they wondered, computer stores started selling 10 Gigabyte hard disks. People blinked and the hard disks were 100 Gigabytes.