Antedating of "Microcomputer"

[Dave Wilton]

> >Date:    Sun, 14 Dec 2003 18:40:31 -0500
> >From:    Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> >
> > microcomputer (OED3 1968)
> > 1963 _Wash. Post_ 1 Mar. D8  All this would take is a clever surgeon to
> > insert a microcomputer into the brain that would provide
> unlimited memory.
>
> Forgive me for butting in if I'm not welcome (no linguistic
> education or anything),
> but that seems to be describing a nanocomputer, not what we think
> of now as a
> microcomputer.  It seems to me that it wouldn't make sense to use
> that as an
> antedating of "microcomputer".
>
> But maybe I'm wrong.  I'll go back to lurking now.

No, you're not wrong. This is a distinctly different sense of the word. The
cites in the OED (1968-84) all refer to what we would now call a "personal
computer" or "PC". This sense was common in the early days when Commodore
64s ruled the earth and Apple IIs roamed free, but faded as PCs became more
powerful and edged "mini-computers" (the size of a large desk) and even
"mainframes" (the size of a room) out of the picture. You see the size
progression: mainframe to mini to micro.

This 1963 sense, as well as the 2000 sense in the OED3, refer to something
even smaller.