Customer Reviews

Modern Marvels - The Creation of the Computer (History Channel)

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I used this video for many years in my introductory computer class at the high school level. The history of computers portrayed is interesting, and I like that the development of the technology is put into a social perspective. I ask my students to identify key social/cultural developments that led to the development or advancement of the computer, and this video shows many: counting the census, artillery firing tables for war, breaking the Enigma Machine in WWII, the Space Race, election predictions, and more. However, the non-history parts were getting dated. The newer compilation from the History Channel called "Computers" includes some of the same history footage, but substantially condensed, as well as more about future computer developments. This version has better history if that is your primary interest.

This video was somewhat interesting. However, be warned that it is actually from 1995, not from 2005. It is extremely dated and goes over many things that would seem silly to most viewers today, such as the difference between hardware and software. Many close-ups of aged hardware (i.e., early 1990s) take away from the more interesting, earlier events -- although the historical development of computing is covered well.

"The Creation of the Computer" takes viewers from pre-computer days (hand-calculated tables of tides, logarithms, artillery calculations) through early developments by visionaries such as Charles Babbage's "Difference Engine" (working model available in 1832), to Herman Hollerith's punched cards developed in 1880s responding to the Census Bureau's overload, to WWII's use of an early computer to break the Nazi's Enigma code, to the eye-opening (for business applications) 1952 Univac computer that quickly predicted the 1952 election outcome.

Computers at this point weighed tons and required extensive maintenance and cooling - not helpful for applications such as space flight. Fortunately, 1947 brought the development of the transistor, then came the integrated circuit, followed by the microprocessor invented at Intel in response to a Japanese firms request for calculator circuits.

Apple then assembled a package that introduced the desktop computer, this was refined per Xerox' development of the mouse and graphical interface, Bill Gates added Microsoft's operating system, and the personal computer soon became omnipresent.

Great overall review of computer history. Covers eary concept in Charles Dickens era London. Then Early special purpose computer for the Census in the Teddy Rosevelt era. World War 2 era progress. How IBM got into the computer business in an interesting story. The Steve Jobs, Bill Gates era which is the most often told part of the story is covered, but is far from the whole story.

This is another DVD that I use in one of my introduction to computer classes. Great way to bring student up to date on computers.

Very informative! It gave us a good idea of where we came from and how we got to where we are today....

It is a really fun video with great information. It gives a lot of insight into why the computer works the way that it does today. I have watched a several times and find things that I missed on previous viewings each time.

Having missed this show on TV back in 1995, I finally got around to buying it (in 1/2011). Although the early history of mainframes and minicomputers seems fairly accurate, the subject of early personal computers is very lacking. Young people who weren't around at the beginning will come away from this production believing that Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak of Apple Computer fame were the innovators of the personal computer. In fact, they were behind the leading edge by years. Several PCs were built and sold before the Apple, and the computer that's credited as the first commercially viable PC was the Altair 8800, manufactured by MITS in Albuquerque. It was so successful that at one time (between 1975 and about 1980), Albuquerque was the center of the burgeoning PC world and the Altair was the standard by which other machines were measured.

This video totally and completely avoids any hint of the existence of the Altair. Even when the subject is changed to a discussion about Bill Gates and Microsoft, they fail to mention that Microsoft's first product was MITS BASIC, which was written for the Altair and which represented the beginning of the Microsoft empire. The Altair subject is so completely and skillfully avoided that I wonder if the producers or writers might have had some sort of person bias against the company or it's founder (Dr Ed Roberts is generally acknowledged as the father of the PC. Look him up on Wikipedia or on hundreds of other sites). The omission is akin to discussing the history of the rocket ship without even a mention of Robert Goddard or of Germany's V2 rocket.

Almost every other movie or book about early PC history gives credit where it's due, so this single product doesn't represent the end of of all historical accuracy. However, it makes one wonder what other important facts might have been slickly glossed over, and it certainly reduces its value as any kind of teaching aid. I would strongly advise against using it for such purposes.

These comments refer to the 1995 show called "Modern Marvels - The Creation of the Computer". The History Channel apparently rehashed the content for a 2005 title called "Modern Marvels - Computers". Others have said that it contains added information about PCs, but I don't know if anything about the Altair was inserted, and unless someone gives me a free copy, I probably won't waste any time on it.

This is 95% identical to The History Channel "Computers" but I like the other one better than this because it goes more into PC's. The other DVD "Computers" covers the history of computing as well - same footage and narration, so you won't miss anything by just getting the other DVD and not this one as well.

I admit, if you're really interested in computers, the video is quite comprehensive. However, I got it to show my technology and communications classes (grades 7-9), and it was just way too slow and boring to be worth their while. I love the Modern Marvels series because for the most part they can make almost anything interesting, but this must have come from the olden days when Modern Marvels wasn't entertaining at all.

On the other hand, if you don't think students need to be entertained for them to learn anything, then this movie's great!

The students did get a kick out of the glasses the interviewees wore...