Originally Posted by PTTG
I... I think there's something in my eye... excuse me... (sniff)... where was I...
Hayes-3 is named for the leader of the team that discovered it, as are most unremarkable worlds. In this world, Alan Turing moved to California in 1948, where he lived happily with Christopher Morcom, a close friend of his, who had iced tea instead of milk several years earlier.
As a result, computer science advanced at least as quickly as it had in Homeline, and possibly moreso. Although Turing and Morcom produced little in terms of new computer innovations, they both spoke with other scientists throughout the next twenty years and contributed to the ideology and technology, subtly. As a result, closed-source software remained in the industrial field, while open-source software became the primary civilian market.
In turn, the computer was less accessible and more powerful. It grew more slowly, but the exponential growth of the technology was merely delayed by a few years.
Current year 2010; portable electronics are everywhere, and they are secure, private, and more expensive than they were on homeline at the time... the software is far more efficient, more than making up for the less powerful hardware used there. Most consumer software, including games, "office software," and tools, is free and produced by nonprofit groups.
After recompiling to work on Homeline hardware (there are only a few major conflicts between homeline and local hardware), most of this software is perfect for homeline use, and usually better and faster than similar programs.
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