Really love this stuff!
Going to hijack the topic a bit,
In the first video (The Silicon Factor) they demonstrate the emerging power of the computer as a tool that can be used to help Industry. They give a very simple and practical example with the beginnings of the Word Processor.
A secretary simply types a letter and the computer looks up every employees data and automatically inserts their information, auto-creating the mailing label or salutation for each employee that these letters will go out to.
After presenting this example - which illustrates how computers can make daily life easier - we have a quote from someone saying that, "The computer is going to become one of the most powerful pieces of technology on Earth."
In hindsight we can see that they were correct. Word Processors and everything else related to Home Office Suite software (including Tax Software) is something that can be used globally and daily both for major industry and personal use. It's what makes computers "essential" as part of the Global Infrastructure.
There's much more to the Global Infrastructure than mere Office Suite technology, but the point is that "Entertainment" isn't what drove the interest nor the global predictions. This is why I'm always harping on about how: VR is not just for video games; VR does not need a Killer App; Entertainment alone is not what is going to cause VR to thrive globally as a daily tool.
The cellphone took the same approach. It made the daily act of communication so much easier (no different than how a Word Processor makes printing hundreds of thousands of individual mailing labels easy). It began with making Phone communication mobile, then it made it simple (i.e. Text Messaging).
The interesting thing about these BBC vids is that they do stress how computer technology had already been around for years up to this point. But once their practical application grew to something that we can now see as the Global Infrastructure, suddenly the rise to power of the PC was born.
Anywho, great stuff. I plan to watch them all over time. I love to have stuff like this going while writing code. Thanks for sharing this, DnD!
