Quinteries James
Student ID: 1002276176
ENC1101
Essay Assignment
Evolution of Technology
	Over the decades, every field of technology has progressed significantly. We could probably all remember when flip phones were still the latest in mobile technology.  Since then technology has really evolved at a rate faster than ever with many upgrades, expansion, and changes for the better. Now in days, most smartphones are capable of acting as standalone computers. They can even keep count of one's fitness details like heart rate, staircases used or footsteps taken. Computers also went through various upgrades over the years. This is especially noticed in today's computer graphics quality and computing power. It's safe to say with the number of inventors and entrepreneurs, the inventions of tomorrow could come sooner than we think.
	Although Microsoft was an early participant in the quickly progressing PC industry, they were not the first to present a personal computer. The world's first personal computers were introduced in the '70s, and came as build-it-yourself kits. It was manufactured by Micro Instrumentation Telemetry Systems (MITS) in 1975. Originally built for hobbyists the company was shocked when thousands were sold within the first month.  This computer sold for $300, or $400 with a protective case. Founder of Microsoft and Bill Gates and co-founder Paul Allen licensed their programming language interpreter to MITS as the main language for the Altair to use. This programming language was known as BASIC (Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code).
	Now in days is it common for most American households to have at least one computer in them. Computers, however, were not as common before, as people last decade were used to DVD players.  Before we had DVD players people were accustomed to VHS tapes. Around that time approximately between 1985 and 2000 only 8% of people were reported to own a personal computer. It wasn't until around that time frame, 20 years ago, personal computers became more affordable for families to own. With more and more companies also involved in the upgrades for dependable computers. The market flourished, providing competitive pricing and continuously progressing its technology.
	With software, services, games, and movies being created relatively quickly after the popularity of PCs in the U.S. Updates and advances in processing power has made computer graphics go from noticeably large pixels to seemingly photo-realistic possibilities. The original Toy Story movie of the series set the bar for computer animation. Since then they have continued to build on they're photo-realism and quality of animation. The same can be said for Half-Life a series that went on to create the standard for FPS games in the early 2000s. School's technology has evolved as well over the decade. From a drawing board and marker being the standards for teaching. To interactive Smart Boards becoming more common in classrooms.
With all of this said new technology will not cease to be created and innovated. There are many inventions in technology and software that has already promised the world a bright future. From Augmented Reality sunglasses that will allow you to safely do everything you checking your phone would provide. Such as view social media feeds, text, use Google Maps, as well as navigate with GPS and take photos. To Virtual Reality, still being fairly new but already becoming more and more popular. Even driverless cars so that a human driver is never required to take control of the wheel to safely operate the vehicle. The world is full of new and innovative technology and it is going to be interesting seeing how the Computer Age will turn out.