The B-right/V R2 Operating System
This article explores the evolution of personal computing models, tracing the shift from standalone mainframes to networked interface computers. It highlights the historical significance of Japan's TRON Project in conceptualizing the 'network interface' model long before modern internet-connected devices.
Why it matters
Understanding the history of computing architectures provides context for current trends in cloud-based and resource-constrained computing.
Although it may not seem like it, what can broadly be termed "personal computing devices" are based on only three conceptual models. In order of their historical appearance, they are: the "stand alone computer model," which first came into being as the batch processing mainframe with a command line interpreter; the "networked stand alone computer model," which saw its first incarnation as the object-oriented workstation with a graphical user interface (GUI); and the "network interface computer model," a terminal-like computer for single users in an environment where all computers are linked together. The golden age of the first conceptual model has long passed, and the current age is a transitional period in which we are moving from the second conceptual model to the third.
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