When Computing Got Personal

A History of the Desktop Computer

By: Matt Nicholson

Narrated by: Norman Gilligan

This is the story of how a handful of geeks and mavericks dragged the computer out of corporate back rooms and laboratories and into our living rooms and offices. It is a tale not only of extraordinary innovation and vision but also of cunning business deals, boardroom tantrums and acrimonious lawsuits.

Here you will find some of the most intelligent and eccentric people you could hope to meet, including wide-eyed hippies, subversive students, computer nerds, entrepreneurs, hackers, crackers and financial backers. Some lost out and some became millionaires, but all played a part in transforming our world.

©2014 Matt Nicholson (P)2015 Matt Nicholson

Critic reviews

"I have read numerous books on the history of personal computing and rate this one highly." (Tim Anderson, ITWriting)

"I enjoyed this book; it has obviously been extremely well researched, and is well written and takes a coherent route through the history." (Kay Ewbank, I Programmer)

"Matt Nicholson ... was in a position to observe all this first-hand." (Wendy M Grossman, ZDNet)

Great details on the history of personal computing

Even though I know a lot about the history of personal computing, I learned some new things in this book. I really enjoyed listening to it.

Good Book, Horrible Narrator.

The book was great. I learned a lot. however I could only listen to a chapter at a time because the narrator was so monotoned. the narrator caused me to get bored. I felt as if I was in a college class that I was forced to take.

A fun trip down the halls of PC history.

What made the experience of listening to When Computing Got Personal the most enjoyable?

I enjoyed the stories of the early frontier days of the Personal Computer market.

What did you like best about this story?

Good coverage of the early and middle PC era.

What about Norman Gilligan’s performance did you like?

It was soothing to listen to, though some of the pronunciation of computer terms was incorrect.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I wouldn't say it was a particularly moving story, but an interesting one.

Any additional comments?

A fantastic listen.

Great Read-Fact filled.

This is a great listen. It is filled with A LOT of history and great info. if this topic is your passion and you love vintage Tech and vintage Tech history.....it will be awesome.

Good material, distracting performance

Narrator had an over-fussy pronunciation style that I found distracting, and didn't appear to be following the meaning of what he was reading, resulting in odd word emphases and distracting pauses. very slow delivery too, though listening on 125% speed helped with that.