2007-08-27 05:43:53 · 15 answers · asked by Your "True" Lover 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Mythology & Folklore
Because the first computers were large and company/business type computers. They were used for calculating military information or business information.
When the IBM "personal" computer was coined...the idea was that it was a computer for just one person. That computer would be for the calculations and business of that one person.
2007-08-27 05:51:15 · answer #1 · answered by Misty 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The terms personal computer, micro-computer, etc are all in comparison to the huge monster computers that used to take up whole rooms and could only be purchased by governments.
That is also why they are still called "digital" computers as compared to "analog" computers. Analog computers still did calculations using huge moving parts (many like a player piano) instead of diodes and micro-chips.
In 1968 when 2001 A Space Odyssey came out (a year before a man walked on the moon) the computer HAL was depicted as playing a game of Chess with a human. At the time computers were so expensive that only science fiction authors could conceive of people playing games on one!
2007-08-27 05:52:29 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are other computers out there besides the personal computer, such as servers and mainframes. The term personal computer was coined to distinguish between a computer that you would use at home or personal use vs. one that would be used for more intensive computations (scientific data crunching, banging environments, email servers, etc.). These days one can use a personal computer to run a lot of the things that are run on a traditional server, but the mainframe is still too much of a computing powerhouse to be replaced by a smaller box.
2007-08-27 05:54:07 · answer #3 · answered by Luxord 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When computers first came out, they were huge pieces of equipment. Only commercial businesses had them or could afford them. In the mid 70's they came out with smaller computers that individuals could afford and have at home. So they became known as personal computers versus the big main frame computers that companies had. They were for 1 person to use, not a large network of employees.
good luck.
2007-08-27 05:53:16 · answer #4 · answered by Fordman 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No Mystery There!
In the beginning, big companies & goverment were the only ones who owned computers. When the smart ones design the programs (like Bill Gates) to open the door to the public, they made it a personal item everyone could afford to own.
2007-08-27 05:55:46 · answer #5 · answered by Sandie B 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes. In the early days of computers, they were very large and expensive - you had to buy time on them to run a program. With the invention of the integrated chip, it became affordable to have a computer of your own (not to mention that it was much more powerful).
2007-08-27 05:51:22 · answer #6 · answered by Pirate AM™ 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Only you call is a 'pesonal' computer. The actual name is Personal computer
2007-08-27 06:22:23 · answer #7 · answered by bunter 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Computers back in those days were as huge as stockrooms. Now we can have in our own home w/o eating much of the space. That's why it's called Personal Computer.
2007-08-27 05:52:53 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because the original computers were big shared monstrosoties, like mainframes. Once each person was able to access their own hard drive without having to share it with anyone, it became "personal" because it was their personal storage space.
2007-08-27 05:52:06 · answer #9 · answered by tushanna_m 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A PC is used by a person or persons for running different applications and "personal" uses. Other computers, suce as servers, are not PC's because they are solely used to house information and process it to PC's via Networks.
2007-08-27 05:52:06 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋