Compared to most industries, personal computing has a short history. In just a few decades, the PC arena has grown from niche-interest beginnings to become a globally pervasive tool of modern life.

Today's computer and video games companies are some of the most successful businesses on the planet, generating multibillion-pound profits off the back of unthinkable levels of revenue.

Like most mature commercial arenas, a few giant corporations now dominate the world of technology: the likes of Hewlett Packard, Dell and IBM.

And, in common with other big businesses, the management of such firms resembles a roll call of anonymous men in grey suits.

However, from its mid-1970s genesis, when pallid geeks brandishing soldering irons would decamp to garden sheds and garages to piece together early microprocessors and memory chips, through the heady era of the dotcom boom (and bust) to the current day, the computer industry's development has thrown up its fair share of personalities.

Many of these luminaries had revolutionary ideas that attracted the attention of financial movers and shakers, while the fame and fortune found others who were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.

The odd one or two fitted the potty professor image favoured by tabloid newspaper editors and a few more besides built their careers on charisma and good looks.

In short, these are all people on whom, for one reason or another, the limelight has shone.

Of course, celebrity is fickle and fame's flame can quickly flicker out. If you've ever wondered what became of once well known computer industry names, well, so did we.

We set out to track down some of the biggest industry names of times past in order to catch up with their careers. We had success and failure in roughly equal measure, so read on to find out who talked and who baulked.

Beating around the Bushnell
We'd not be foolish enough to try and pinpoint the personal computer industry's precise starting point; ask half-a-dozen pundits when the business got going and you'll get as many contradictory answers.

However, most people agree that one man alone takes credit for bringing video games to worldwide attention: Nolan Bushnell.

A chap called Steve Russell had previously invented the first genuine video game, a program called Spacewar that ran on ancient PDP-1 minicomputer terminals.

However, access to these enormously expensive machines was the preserve of students patrolling computer laboratories attached to exclusive university campuses. In other words, only an elite few ever got to play this basic but inspirational game.

Born in 1943, the teenaged Nolan Bushnell was typical of the electronics geeks alluded to in the introduction to this feature. He would potter in his garage for hours building all manner of gadgets and gizmos.

In 1962, while studying engineering at the University of Utah, Bushnell caught first sight of Russell's Spacewar game.

Later, memories of his Spacewar experiences would stir Bushnell into creating a version of the game for a wider audience, which he called Computer Space.

But it was a later game that made Bushnell's name. Released in 1973, Pong captured the imagination of a generation and spawned the video game market. On the back of Pong's success, Bushnell built a world famous company: Atari.

We spent weeks tracking down Bushnell, via telephone, email and various public relations representatives and other businesses he's been involved with over the years.

Eventually, we struck lucky, locating the industry's architect to an office just a stone's throw away from Los Angeles International Airport.

Here, working under the guise of a company called Uwink, Bushnell is toiling to recapture his former glory.

"With this company, I am creating numerous puzzle games and a massive multiplayer gaming network for the public space. I'm also working on an educational project using game theory to teach," he told us.

Bushnell's "multiplayer gaming network" involves installing connected terminals in public arenas, like bars, clubs and airport lounges.

The system is already up and running in the US and Uwink has ambitions to build a global network: an amusement arcade with a worldwide clientele.

Bushnell believes that email is proof that networked games will be successful. "I think email in the connected world has had the biggest impact [on the world over the last 25 years]. The asynchronous communication that email enables has added significant productivity to the world," he declared.

Woz not was
Steve Wozniak was one of the personal computer industry's true pioneers and even, to some, a hero.

Interested in all things electronic from an early age, Wozniak's career took off in the early 1970s when he was employed by Hewlett Packard to design computer chips for pocket calculators.

In 1976, Wozniak teamed up with Steve Jobs and formed Apple Computer. The pair's first product was the Apple I, a hand-built machine housed in a wooden box.

Keen interest in this early offering prompted the pair to develop the Apple II, a more powerful computer with the professional panache that the first model lacked.

On the strength of this machine, and before the decade was out, Apple Computer grew from a two-man outfit to a multimillion-dollar company. Hardly surprising, then, that Wozniak's name was almost as well known as that of the company he co-founded.

In 1981, Wozniak parted company with Apple and returned to university in order to finish his engineering degree.

Since then, the one-time high-flyer has put his wealth and venerable reputation to good use, dishing out notebooks to hard-up students and affiliating himself with all things educational.

In short, he's a philanthropic sort and an advocate of edification. He also remains a staunch supporter of the Apple Macintosh platform.

When we caught up with Wozniak he was in the midst of a flurry of business meetings, but he found the time to talk to us about his current activities.

We asked him what ambitions could still exist for someone who'd already created one of the world's most recognised brands.

"I am involved with a start-up. I'm not trying to bring a world of press to our doors. I'm hiding from the press so that we can develop a superior product. It's not a computer or information device in that sense," he said, adding, apropos of nothing: "I love my Segway."

On the topic of the dependability of modern computers, Wozniak is forthright in his condemnation. "I hope that some day somebody comes up with a technique to make computers work more reliably, and to not need constant changes," he said.

Looking back over the years since the formation of and his departure from Apple, we were interested in Wozniak's views on the way the industry has developed since those trailblazing days.

What in his eyes, we asked, were the highlights of the past quarter century? "First, the computer was a typewriter replacement," began Wozniak, with a virtual deep-breath, "with some soft editing control that we never had before.

"Games became software, and were even written in Basic, and modifications that would take lifetimes in hardware were now possible.

"The same flexibility came to financial experimentation with spreadsheets. The hardware and software improved in ways that made the computer seem closer and closer to a real human, in terms of graphics, speech and more. This is still continuing. Every such step made it more attractive and fun than before."

What, we wondered, have been the most interesting developments from the perspective of an industry pioneer. The internet? Digital cameras? Recordable DVD media?

Wozniak mused: "The internet changed so much that I won't comment on that. Digital cameras came to consumers, but the first models were for TVs, not even computers.

"Now we store our photos, movies, audio samples, music and just about everything on our hard disk and on CD-Rom, DVD storage and external hard disks that are extremely affordable.

"Everyone can max their computer with Ram at today's prices. Making real working audio-mix CDs and DVDs is truly one of the most pleasing personal tasks [computer users] can do nowadays."

However, Wozniak's opinions on the current state of the industry aren't all rose-tinted. He reckons consumers should be wary when heading out to the shops to buy the latest, greatest improved product or software upgrade.

"Technology companies have found that the way to make more revenues is to rearrange things," explained Wozniak.

"Basically, it's the same product labelled as new and essential. I call this forced obsolescence, although in a lot of cases it's closer to rearranging the furniture on the Titanic.

"Also, revenues are based very much on tricky deception. You buy a printer for [a very small sum] but pay $75 on ink the first day you have to print a couple of hundred pages.

"We're also growing leery of the model of charging us monthly. It's harder to figure out how expensive a car is to buy when all they will tell you is a monthly amount.

"Now we have cell phone bills, regular phone bills, long-distance bills, internet bills, satellite TV bills, cable TV bills, satellite radio bills, TiVo bills and bills for every device and service that you sign up for."

When it comes to competition in the personal computer marketplace, Wozniak thinks it's long been a two-horse race:

"There seem to be two software monopolies now: Apple and Microsoft. With each, you've already chosen your platform and you'll live with what you get in terms of software that works," he explained.

"You'll just accept deficiencies and bugs as the way it is. The quality and testing of software has gone way down, primarily the software, including the operating system that comes with your computer.

"The early dreams of a graphical user interface for 'the rest of us' are well respected but the major principles that made it a reality have been forgotten."

Enjoy the trip?
One of today's most successful video games companies is also one of the oldest. Set up in 1982, Electronic Arts is an outfit famed for producing games affiliated with high-profile names in primarily US sports, like NHL Hockey.

The man responsible for the company's early successes is Trip Hawkins, who is credited as the designer for the production of some of the firm's celebrated works, including John Madden Football, one of the most successful software franchises of all time.

In fact, Hawkins was the boss of Electronic Arts, but his media profile peaked after he stepped aside from the lead role.

Hawkins remained at the company helm for the best part of a decade before deciding to branch out, heading up a new EA hardware division - 3DO.

The stated goal of this subsidiary was to "advance gaming hardware to 3D graphics, optical disc storage, and network play", and media interest in Hawkins was at its height.

The essence of 3DO's idea was that the company would create and license to hardware manufacturers specifications for advanced games consoles.

We located Hawkins, lurking in the shadow left behind once the media spotlight moved on, at 3DO. Asked about the original company's hardware ambitions, Hawkins was circumspect.

"3DO took on momentum and was spun out as a separate company but, while proving to be a catalyst for gaming hardware, it was an unstable licensing business structure," he said.

In other words, the firm's hardware ambitions proved a commercial flop. In 1997 the console blueprints were sold off and 3DO was repositioned as a software publisher.

Still chairman and chief executive of 3DO, Hawkins was happy to bring us up to date with his career.

"3DO was the fastest-growing public software game publisher from 1997-1999 but in early 2000 the game industry began a surprisingly difficult transition period, away from Play Station 1 and towards Play Station 2 and other new systems, that hurt 3DO and publishers overall from 2000-2002," he explained.

"3DO underwent a turnaround effort in 2002 and is positioned for success in 2003. At 3DO I have had some notable game ideas that have succeeded including Army Men, a game series that has sold seven million units, and High Heat Baseball, which is the top-rated baseball simulation game.

"Another idea of mine is currently being touted by the gaming press as one of the hottest new games for 2003. It is called The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."

A pair of darlings
During the wealth-obsessed 1980s, the entrepreneur-worshipping press delighted in presenting to the public rags-to-riches stories: tales about people who had combined good ideas and hard work to make fortunes, with fame often following as a result.

With youthful features, fancy sports cars and canny business skills, David and Richard Darling fitted the image demanded by editors of the profile pages.

As striplings, the Darling brothers began writing computer games for the 8-bit platforms, selling the fruits of their labours through budget software label Mastertronic.

Flushed with early success, and with the help and guidance of their father, Jim, in 1986 the Darlings set up their own software company: Codemasters.

You don't need us to tell you that the firm was a winner: nearly two decades on Codemasters is thriving, responsible for creating some of the best-known games of recent years, like the Colin McRae Rally and Micro Machines franchises. The firm employs 350 people and is still owned by the Darling family.

We talked to David Darling about his early prominence and prosperity. From someone who turned a teenage pastime into a multimillion-pound business, what have been the highlights along the way?

"I've been intrigued to see [the industry] grow from a very narrow niche market, mostly 10 to 14 year-old boys interested in sci-fi, to a huge global industry that entertains all kinds of people with such a variety of types of games," said Darling.

"Highlights have been technological advancements. The move from 2D to proper 3D with PS1 was a big step that really made games more accessible and rewarding for most people.

"The move to DVD as a medium was great, too, because it is so cheap to produce and yet so huge, and pretty fast to access."

Lastminute but not least
Of course, not all industry stars glimmer in the dim and distant past. The dotcom boom of the late 1990s saw a lot of people attain celebrity status but, in the UK at least, none was more famous than Brent Hoberman (save perhaps for business partner Martha Lane-Fox).

An Oxford University graduate, Hoberman's career includes time spent as a consultant at confectionery firm Mars and a spell as the head of business development at online auctioneer, QXL.

However, Hoberman is best known for co-founding online-bucketshop-turned-department-store Lastminute.com.

From its inception in April 1998, Lastminute.com was lauded by stockbrokers and in the media as being everything a good internet company should be: a memorable moniker attached to an easy-to-use interface that delivered an instant worldwide marketplace for 'perishable' commodities, such as flight seats and hotel rooms.

Lastminute.com went public in March 2000 and at its peak, the stock market value of Hoberman's company was in excess of £800m; and Hoberman himself was said to be worth £77m.

But it wasn't to last. Within days, the share price plummeted below the float price of £3.80, leaving hundreds of thousands of small investors out of pocket.

Over the next couple of years the firm's share price continued to fall, bottoming out at just under 19p.

Although his 15 minutes of fame has passed, Hoberman remains a head-honcho of the firm he co-founded.

We were promised an audience with the one-time darling of the stock market but, despite waiting until - forgive us, please - the last minute, the chance never materialised.

Down and (apparently) out
While researching this feature we attempted to nail numerous well-known names from times past. But, like the kit from the computer industry, personalities can be here one day and gone the next.

We're still wondering what the likes of Bejamin Cohen, the teenage founder of web portal SoJewish.com and once paraded in the press as a 'dotcom millionaire', is up to.

And naturally there's Sir Clive Sinclair, inventor of the eponymous computer range and Britain's one-time unofficial technology tsar.

Last reports have him living and working in a penthouse apartment in London, being passionate about poetry and indulging in a bit of poker to keep his social and mathematical skills sharp.

Sadly, though, the ginger genius declined to respond to our request for an interview.

Regardless, without the accidental or deliberate genius of yesterday's trailblazers, wherever they are, we wouldn't be where we are today in terms of technology - and having so much fun.