While most historical accounts of the development of computer design focus on specific computers or manufacturers, examining the success stories of hardware and operating systems, Delete: A Design History of Computer Vapourware creates a completely new narrative by investigating the machines that didn't make it.

Fascinating, full-colour images of computer designs, many of them previously unpublished, are accompanied by the hitherto untold stories of their planning and development, the pitfalls and successes in their creation, the market and competition at the time and the reasons why they never finally appeared for sale.

Appealing both to a broad audience and to a more specialist one of designers and computer historians, Delete, with its unique collection of prototypes that never made it to the market, depicts a technological world that might have been.

About the Author/Editor

Paul Atkinson is Professor of Design and Design History at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He is associate editor of The Design Journal and author of Computer.

Contents

Preface
Introduction: Imagined Machines
Part One: Mainframe and Minicomputers
Part Two: Personal Computers
Part Three: Pen Computers
Part Four: Handheld Computers
Conclusion: The Agency of Ideas
Timeline
Acknowledgements & Credits
Bibliography
Index