The 17th Century: The Invention of the First "Computers" The devices often considered the first "computers" in our understanding were rather calculators than the sophisticated combination of hard- and software we call computers today. In 1642 Blaise Pascal, the son of a French tax collector, developed a device to perform additions. His numerical wheel calculator was a brass rectangular box and used eight movable dials to add sums up to eight figures long. Designed to help his father with his duties, the big disadvantage of the Pascaline was its limitation to addition. Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, a German mathematician and philosopher, in 1694 improved the Pascaline by creating a machine that could also multiply. As its predecessor Leibniz's mechanical multiplier likewise worked by a system of gears and dials. Leibniz also formulated a model that may be considered the theoretical ancestor of some modern computers. In De Arte Combinatoria (1666) Leibniz argued that all reasoning, all discover, verbal or not, is reducible to an ordered combination of elements, such as numbers, words, colors, or sounds. Further improvements in the field of early computing devices were made by Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar, a Frenchmen. His arithometer could not only add and multiply, but perform the four basic arithmetic functions and was widely used up until the First World War.

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Extract of Disney’s Content Production and Distribution Holdings Although the traditional media companies first steps into the digital sphere were fairly clumsy, they have quickly learned from their mistakes and continued to enlarge their Internet presence. Time Warner now for instance operates about 130 Web-Sites (http://www.timewarner.com/corp/about/pubarchive/websites.html). Anyhow the stronger online-engagement of the big media conglomerates by 1998 has led to the establishment of a new pattern: "More than three-quarters of the 31 most visited news and entertainment websites were affiliated with large media firms, and most of the rest were connected to outfits like AOL and Microsoft." (Broadcasting and Cable, 6/22/98). During the last years many of the smaller players in the field of digital media have been driven out of competition by the huge media conglomerates. This mainly is a result of the advantages that the commercial media giants have over their less powerful counterparts: As engagement in online activities mostly does not lead to quick profits, investors must be able to take losses, which only powerful companies are able to. Traditional media outlets usually have huge stocks of digital programming, which they can easily plug into the Internet at little extra cost. To generate audience, the big media conglomerates constantly promote their Websites and other digital media products on their traditional media holdings. As possessors of the hottest "brands" commercial media companies often get premier locations from browser software makers, Internet service providers, search engines and portals. Having the financial resources at their disposition the big media firms are aggressive investors in start-up Internet media companies. Commercial media companies have close and long ties to advertisers, which enables them to seize most of these revenues.

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Sun Microsystems Founded in 1982 and headquartered in Palo Alto, USA, Sun Microsystems manufactures computer workstations, servers, and software. http://www.sun.com For more detailed information see the Encyclopaedia Britannica: http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/9/0,5716,108249+1+105909,00.html . http://www.sun.com/ http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/9/0...

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