Week 34 Summary Essay

         This week I learned about two inventions and two inventors. The inventions and inventors that I learned about were the TCP/IP internet protocol suite, invented by Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf and the Graphical User Interface (GUI), which was invented by Alan Kay. The people that I learned about were Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Now, I am going to tell you a little bit about them.

           The first thing I learned about this week was the TCP/IP internet protocol suite. This is basically a set of rules that allows data to be broken into smaller pieces or packets and sent to the correct IP address, where it is put back together. It was developed by Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf during the 1970s and 1980s. The TCP/IP spread and this amazing invention gave people the internet! The next invention learned about this week was the Graphical User Interface. It was a way for regular people to use a computer easily. It was first used by Alan Kay who worked for Xerox PARC in the Xerox Alto computer, which was released in 1973, but was too expensive for anyone to buy. It was later adapted by Apple to use with the Macintosh computer, and then later with Microsoft Windows, and today, this invention is used in just about all electronics that people can use to make it easier. In fact, it is so much easier that little toddlers can know what to do on devices that are better than NASA’s computers!

           Next, instead of another invention, I learned about an inventor named Steve Jobs, who was one of the cofounders of Apple. He was born in 1955, and after he helped create Apple, he invented the Mackintosh computer in the 1980s. He also invented many other things. He also became Disney’s largest shareholder in 2006. At one point, Jobs left Apple and started his own computer business called NeXT. However, Apple purchased NeXT so that they could get Steve back, because they were doing badly without him. That was how great of an inventor he was. Because of him, we have the iPhone, the iPad, the iPod, the modern-day computer, etc. today.

           The last lesson was also about an inventor whose name is Bill Gates. He was born in Seattle, Washington in 1955. Bill Gates began programming and went to a school called BASIC when he was thirteen years old. He was very good at programming, and later he and his friend/partner Paul Allen invented Microsoft. He also brought web browsing to the mainstream public. He isn’t the best of people, and he has done many horrible things to the world, but because of him, we can use Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Office, etc. all the time today.

             My favorite invention or inventor I learned about this week was Steve Jobs. I think it is cool that he was such a good inventor that his company had to buy his other company after he retired just to get him back because it was doing so badly without him! He invented so many things that we use every day today.

Bonus Question Explain whether you think the Steve Ballmer advertisement for Windows 1.0 was effective, and why or why not.

            I think that the Steve Ballmer advertisement for Windows 1.0 could have been effective because he is hyper, so it got people excited to go and buy it. It also could have been for the cheap price of $99.00! In all, I think it got people excited and made them want to get it.