Do you know how defines the computer-computing moment in which we find ourselves ? And above all, do you know what it is due to? This is the sixth generation of computers and today we will see it in detail.
This begins in the year 2000 , that is, with the millennium, and still extends until the moment you are reading these words, and it is transformed every passing day In fact, it has the days counted, being very close what will be the seventh generation, planned for very soon.
Do you want to know what were the milestones of this completely technological moment in which we are? We will explain everything to you, from the characteristics that define it to the main inventions through recognized characters and historical moments . See all computer generations in full.
Index:
What characteristics define the sixth generation of computers?
The beginning of this era comes with the introduction of wireless connectivity elements (bluetooth, WiFi, WiMax …) to connect different devices, first to networks and then between them. However, the characteristics of this moment are several and very diverse.
These include:
- Improvement of physical connectivity systems ( ADSL and fiber ).
- Bandwidths are immense.
- Daily and completely standardized use of the internet , first on desktops and then on all types of devices.
- Total revolution in terms of quantity and quality of the hardware elements (CPU, GPU, memories…).
- Overwhelming amount of software.
- Development of all kinds of elements until you get efficient products that offer unthinkable results a few years ago.
- Computers with parallel and vector architectures .
- La artificial intelligence develops considerably.
- All kinds of smart devices appear, including wireless devices (smartphones, televisions, refrigerators, ovens, cleaning devices, watches …).
- Total freedom of design on any device, not only with miniaturization, although this is completely habitual and surprising.
- Processors use superconductors , which save energy .
- millions and millions of operations are performed per second .
- Multimedia is developed and becomes a standard of consumption method > on the internet.
- Work in the cloud.
- Development of online commerce .
- Biometrics is a great incentive, given , initially, with the fingerprint reader.
- Development of specific operating systems for each type of device.
- It is usually worked to meet a consumer demand personal.
As you can see, it is difficult to define what are the characteristics of this generation because there are many aspects, well differentiated, that have great interest in the current user, being, all of them, worthy of mention.
In addition, we cannot forget that this list is expanding as the years go by, so what is now just an outline will soon be a standard.
What we can say, without a doubt about this stage, is that corresponds to a moment of absolute and constant revolution of the technology market .
What was the evolution and history of the 6th generation of computers?
As you can imagine by taking a look at the previous point, the evolution of this era can be immensely long since all that is achieved turns out to be a breakthrough in computer technology at one level or another. Therefore, we will address the most relevant aspects.
This begins, as we anticipated, with the incorporation of WiFi as a wireless connection method so that our computers (and then other devices) could connect to the network without using cables. Technology begins to be devised in 1999 and sees the light in 2000.
Other forms of wireless connectivity are also developed, such as WiMax and bluetooth , which allow sending and receiving data by microwave and radio frequency respectively.
We work, in parallel, in a number of aspects, finding ourselves at a time when technology is not a novelty but a field to improve.
Thus, also appears in 2000, tablets to meet the needs of users who came using PDAs in previous years and who were looking for more comfortable devices and versatile.
These have never really become successful , in fact, there is no use boom, but it is fair to recognize that, in terms of design and functionality, they meant a lot, reducing considerably the size of the laptops and maintaining basic functionalities that any user would like to use routinely and domestically.
So does the “Blackberry”, a keypad phone and the first smart features . This opens the way to smartphones, which make a phone useful for anything other than making and receiving calls .
The inclusion of its functionalities, yes, was very slow. Until a few years ago we can talk about authentic pocket computers (with ultra powerful processors, large RAM, etc.). Once these functionalities are developed, yes, the models that appear in the market are multiplied month by month, giving a much higher supply than demand.
As for computers, much work is done to increase the speed of processors , which improves virtually exponentially with each advance. Also mass storage is a strong point, going on to use computers with huge memories practically overnight.
Likewise, graphics cards gain importance, giving them the ability to load with processing work , relieving CPU work.
A turning point was the launch of the SSD, a non-volatile memory hard disk with which we store data , just as we do with HDDs. Among its features we find that they almost do not have moving parts, they are silent, they take up very little space, their latency is minimal and, most importantly, their writing speed is much higher .
Appears in 1999 with a flash base. In 2007 it is sold as an expansion card. In 2010 it is launched as an alternative to HDD , being for many the best invention of the century in the computer sector.
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The laptop gains in benefits , becoming an equivalent to the desktop, which makes it more expensive. To combat this, appear other portable devices of smaller size and more modest features: netbooks, ultrabooks and notebooks .
The devices, all of them, in general, can be manufactured in a much smaller size, this being something that is to everyone’s taste because the offer in terms of device design is infinite.
Optical fiber appears as an option to consider instead of ADSL to have a network connection in homes and businesses. Its operation is simple and known for several centuries but its usefulness in this sector begins to be studied in the late 90’s and is finally applied in 2005 in our country.
The bandwidths, very limited at the beginning, have become huge, allowing us to download a huge amount of content in minutes and enabling content streaming.
The amount of software that is made available to the user is uncountable , there being a large number of them for anything you can think of, first on computers and then on other machines. Thus, application stores are an indispensable at present and there is a digitalization process favored by the facilities that softwares are capable of offering in all types of tasks.
This also makes the cloud appear , a place for everyone and anyone where we can store content and work without taking up physical or virtual space in our facilities and equipment . This method of resource consumption is actually used today and is the basis of elements that we all consult daily (see the example of Google Drive).
Although the supercomputers are not machines that are in the mouth of society, relegating to activities that most do not even imagine, these have also multiplied their possibilities and a real race is lived by have the most powerful in the world in many countries, capable of millions and millions of operations per second .
The summary of the history of the sixth generation of computers is that it is a time when the news is not focused on any aspect but is always working for the user to use more technological equipment and live connected . Everyone develops and, with it, improvements are launched that point everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
What computers and other featured devices and items appeared in the 6th generation of computers?
On this occasion, due to the diversity of all types of devices, we do not want to highlight a particular model but the great revolutionaries that have appeared since the last generation of computers began: p>
Tablet
A tablet is a mobile device that includes enough software and hardware to work like a computer but whose size is small and its shape consists of a rectangle of minimum thickness and between 7 and 12 inches diagonal . This is a touch screen (works with stylet or with your own fingers) that allows us to interact with the installed elements (games, office suites, browsers, etc.).
Although its concept was seen a long time ago in audiovisual products such as 2001, space odyssey or Star Trek, the truth is that materially nothing similar has existed until much later.
In 1972 A. Kay developed the concept of the Dynabook , although he could not carry it out because of the impossibility of developing appropriate technologies. In 1987 Apple presents a video of a similar device, but totally futuristic.
It is the year 2001 that lets us see the first tablet as such, coming from Microsoft. In the following months, Nokia did the same. Microsoft again launches Mira, which is now called Tablet PC a short time later and was a set of screen-devices without a keyboard.
BlackBerry
Although this is a brand, the truth is that it is the name we have chosen to refer to the mobile devices that include a full QWERTY keyboard under your screen .
It is a predecessor of the smart mobile phone or smartphone, because with this device we sent emails, we had lists of tasks, etc.
Smartphone
Although the mobile phone appears much earlier, and we can consider PDAs as pocket computers, it is not until 1999 that what we can define as the first smartphone on the market appears. This was the i-mode , of the Japanese company NTT DoCoMo. It transmitted data and allowed access to web services such as sending emails or shopping online.
This, however, was not known worldwide until much later, when other smart phone models based on the Windows Mobile OS had already been launched on the other side of the globe in 2002 and BlackBerry phones.
As expected, at first they were very limited, including both very simple hardware and software that would evolve over the years until we can now perform the same activities we have available on a computer.
Games, document writing, access to all types of websites (both as user and administrator, even being able to modify websites), video viewing, updating of our profiles in networks social, etc.
At present, the specifications of smartphones are very similar to those of computers (they include powerful graphics, 8-core processors, large internal memory and expandable even up to 2TB … ).
Mobile operating systems
Indeed, the appearance of smartphones means that the operating systems must be modified so that the use of these devices is more functional, according to their characteristics.
We talk about low-level softwares that are designed specifically for mobile devices , be they phones, tablets or others. These allow us to get hold of other applications and that we can use them. It is worth mentioning that somewhat modified versions of these are integrated for smart TVs.
The most used are Android, iOS, BlackBerry OS and Windows Phone although there are many others. They are usually based on a layer model in which one or more of them are modifiable so that each provider offers the user a custom OS.
Netbook
The netbook appears, a device similar to the laptop but smaller and with less capacity . It is an ideal for those who need to perform tasks of minimum consumption of resources and need a fully portable device that can move comfortably all day.
Similar to this we have the notebook and the ultrabook , devices that are gaining in benefits but also in size, without becoming as powerful as a laptop is in use today.
Thus, we have a wide range of laptops with more or less powerful specifications that are an advantage or inconvenience depending on our need.
WiFi
This is a technology that we all used to use but when it was launched it was such a change that it was hard to believe that it can offer wireless connectivity between devices and other devices and / or networks . p>
We see that devices such as computers, telephones, televisions and even all kinds of home automation elements are interconnected and managed with each other without wires . For this, the requirement is that they comply with 802.11 standards. We also get these to connect to the network through an access point.
It is in 1999 that several companies come together to solve the problem of the lack of wireless connectivity. A few months later, already in 2000, interoperability of equipment can be certified with this IEEE 802.11b standard, registering the “WiFi” mark.
Fiber optic
His invention is considerably older, dating back to 1792 as the oldest moment in which a communicative moment is produced using optical telegraphy. However, it has not been until the new millennium that optical fiber has not reached homes ( Telefónica was trying its luck in our country in 2005 ), completely changing the way in which that we consume data over the internet .
This is much faster than ADSL , a resource used so far to have internet connection in homes and premises. In addition, includes a greater balance between the rate of descent and the rate of rise in most cases, especially as we move forward in time.
In fact, symmetric fiber, which offers exactly the same as upload and download, that is, allows us to upload any file at the same speed as another one.
Its installation is more difficult because it is its most delicate parts, although, it can be taken anywhere, currently giving a full network deployment that takes it to every city, being its implementation almost as good as the of ADSL.
Mass storage memory
Regarding storage memories, in this last generation we have seen how have increased brutally in terms of capacity . Thus, the common thing is that any simple computer already includes its 1024 GB of internal memory.