personal computer

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personal computer (PC)

a small COMPUTER used as a desktop data processing facility in business and for personal use. In the office, PCs and desk-top workstations are often linked together in LOCAL AREA NETWORKS enabling them to share data and peripherals such as printers, fax machines, scanners etc. For many tasks the PC has replaced the large mainframe computer (see DOWNSIZING). See INFORMATION MANAGEMENT.

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For, while the connection between the introduction of personal computers and the sudden appearance of the "skills gap" seems fortuitously close, this connection falls apart upon closer examination.

The Fallacy of the SKILLS Gap

Some aspect of each of these tasks mentioned above will benefit from automation on a personal computer with a fast microprocessor.

The microprocessor and medicine

Many of his stories have already been told--and told better--in earlier accounts of the personal computer industry.

Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition, and Still Can't Get a Date

One of the more ambitious schemes to shoehorn a large natural-language system into a personal computer is the Natural Access System, developed by Bozena H.

Conversing with computers naturally

When the PARC scientists proudly displayed a personal computer at a 1977 management conference, the wives of the Xerox executives were enthralled by the graphics, the mouse, and the color printers.

Fumbling the Future: How Xerox Invented, Then Ignored, the First Personal Computer