[rfreiberger]

I love the idea of alternative reality and what if the vacuum tubes were never invented, the same with the transistor. Would we have huge steam engines running building sized mechanical computers to calculate simple programs. Each time I visit the Computer History Museum I think of what if the path was disrupted somehow.

[sidpatil]

I'd prefer to think that in the alternate universe, the machines aren't building-sized.

In that alternate universe, maybe Swiss watchmakers are the ones driving innovation in computing.

[agumonkey]

Opening a smartphone is reminiscent of opening a wristwatch.