>>>>>Not so. Telephones were being used by 1901. Actually, I think the punch card ws already in use by then.
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>>Or, would that be considered 'Firmware'... I wonder...
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>But then what were the punch cards used in? Not computers, not hundred years ago. I think they were used in rug weaving machines or something like that, just to guide it to do the pattern. It's as much programming as mechanical piano can be said to be programmed to play a song.

Hmmm... Does a computer have to be electric to qualify as something that has the ability to compute or do work? Or more simply, any machine capable of doing work based on user defined parameters or logic. It begs the question, if those user defined parameters or logic qualify as being intellectual property, is it software or not? Is placing an arrangement of metal spikes on a cylinder in a music box "programming"?