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Article: Computers and Computer Industry
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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COMPUTERS AND COMPUTER INDUSTRY
COMPUTERS AND COMPUTER INDUSTRY.
The electronic digital computer is the herald of the Information Age. Just as technologies developed in earlier ages liberated people from physical toil, computers have liberated people from the more tedious kinds of mental toil
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and have revolutionized the transfer of information. The banking, insurance, and travel industries, to name a few, are vastly quicker and more responsive than they were a half-century ago. The computer industry employs hundreds of thousands directly, but many millions of people outside the industry use computers as an important tool in their jobs.
Calculating devices such as the abacus have ...