The document summarizes the history of computers from ancient counting machines like the abacus to modern electronic computers. It describes early mechanical counting machines invented in the 1600s-1800s by Pascal, Leibniz, and Babbage. Herman Hollerith's 1880 tabulating machine used punched cards and electricity to automate the US census. During WWII, the British created Colossus, an early digital computer that helped break German codes. The invention of the transistor and integrated circuit in the mid-1900s led to smaller, faster computers and the microchip. This paved the way for personal computers in the 1970s-80s like the Altair, Apple I, and IBM PC running early versions of Microsoft operating