Manufacturing Process

• Microcomputers were born after the development of an automated manufacturing process that was able to replace clunky transistors with individual circuits on a single microchip. These were done in base eight, which allowed four binary commands to be stored at once. By 2005, it was commonplace for a microchip to have millions of circuits working in concert with each other on a single chip.
  
  

1970s

• The 1970s not only saw the birth of the microchip, but the sale of millions of micro computer kits to the general public. This was an innovative time, with people building micro computers and programming applications in their garage. Two such programmers, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, would later go on to build multi-billion dollar empires around the micro computer.
  
  

1980s

• The 1980s saw the microcomputer re-branded as the personal computer (PC) thanks to International Business Machines (IBM). IBM helped develop a unified architecture for PCs to communicate with each other as well as third-party programs. The PC was quickly reverse-engineered and cloned to the entire world. This is also when assembly language began to be replaced by higher level languages, allowing more people without scientific backgrounds to develop programs for the PC.
  
  

1990s

• In the '80s, the personal computer went from the realm of enthusiasts to specialized accounting firms that needed the massive calculating abilities of the PC. When the 90's began, the PC was quickly finding a home on the desktop of every employee in corporate offices with abilities from word processing to spreadsheets and databases. Public schools also began widely adopting personal computer curriculum to replace typing classes.
  
  

2000 and Beyond

• Hardware and software for micro computers continues to advance at unprecedented rates. The computer has begun to replace the television in the American home. Micro computers have become so ubiquitous that almost every adult American carries one around (their cellphone) and has one or more in their home and another at work.