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From: anderson@uwmacc.UUCP (Jess Anderson)
Newsgroups: net.misc
Subject: Computer Census
Message-ID: <183@uwmacc.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 18-Aug-86 13:10:49 EDT
Article-I.D.: uwmacc.183
Posted: Mon Aug 18 13:10:49 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 20-Aug-86 01:19:16 EDT
Distribution: na
Organization: UWisconsin-Madison Academic Comp Center
Lines: 26

How many computers are there in (a) the US and (b) the world?
What counts as "one computer" in the answer to this question?
How many micros are made each day?

In "Cohabiting with Computers," Joseph F. Traub, editor,
Wm. Kaufmann, publishers (1985), two contributors make what
struck me as very large claims. One was that the number of
computers is greater than the number of people in the world,
which I take to be 5 million million. Even counting digital
watches, I find it hard to believe there are 5 billion
computers. Another author claims there are more computers
than people in the United States, which I take to mean 220+
million. Could be, but that's a lot of computers! This same
author also says that more than one million microcomputers
are being manufactured each day. 

Does anyone know the facts here? If you will e-mail to me,
I will summarize to the net (include a suggestion where the
summary should appear, please).
-- 

==UUCP: {harvard,seismo,topaz,  =========================Jess Anderson======
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==The chrysalis knows nothing of spring or autumn.=======(Chuang Tsu)=======