ummm, of course there were computers in the time of Einstein, and you don't get real computers without software. Einstein lived at the same time as Alan Turing, who pretty much invented the modern definition of a computer, and built the amazing Colossus machines, the first electronic, digital, programmable computers. Of course, there was no free software, as all the Colossus machines and thier software were UK military secrets and the workings of the Harvard-IBM mark 1 was a military secret of the US navy. However, Einstein lived till 1955, so he would have been around to see he first commercial computers around 1951, however costing hundreds of thousands and only used by large busineses, there wouldn't have been any free software, so Einstein and computers in the modern sense shared the planet for about 11 years. As a socialist, I'm sure Einstein would have strongly approved of free software though.
|