hinking that this was just an expensive toy. Bruce wanted it, and 'convinced' me that we 'needed' it. Not just to play fun computer games, but to type documents, format spreadsheets, and catalogue recipes. Uh huh. Bruce can't type, I didn't care about spreadsheets, and any recipes I would ever use were in easy-to-get-to cookbooks in my kitchen. It was an expensive toy. It was a Tandy 286, with both 5.25 & 3.5 disk drives... to accommodate the new, ah, ...games. Bruce said, "Someday, every home will have to have a computer, and you won't know what to do without it! Hey, let's play this cool flight simulator..." I chortled. Then came... the Internet. When we decided to 'go online', it was a major event. We got a modem as a Christmas gift, and the kids fervently bounced around the house telling all the guests... "We're on the Internet, we're on the Internet!"
They were met by blank stares of grandparents and elderly aunts/uncles, who nodded, thunkerstruck, and said, "What's the Internet?" (They still say that). How did we ever get by without email and IM's?? Of course it wasn't long that we had to upgrade our computer, ... and then came DSL, and Broadband, and wireless, and routers, and DVD burners, and digital cameras, etc. ...and of course we had to upgrade, several times. Now, I venerate my husband as a prophet, and get terribly cranky when my server goes down. I telecommute, and my computer is essential to my job. And I have Spider Solitaire on my desktop. Everyone in the family has their own computers, which seem to be obsolete months after they are upgraded. Businesses and organizations are at a disadvantage if they don't have a good website.Ah... technology. I know there are downsides... new opportunities for crime and invasion of privacy. But cyberspace has abridged our world like nothing else. When I was in college, I studied abroad at the University of Strasbourg, France. While it was a fabulous experience, I was incredibly homesick because I was so cut off from my family and friends so far away. Aerograms took 4 to 5 days to arrive, and limited what you could write to one page. Phone communication was prohibitive at $17.00/minute. I felt isolated. A few days ago, Samantha's boyfriend left to study abroad for 6 months. They bought web cams, and downloaded Skype, and while I'm certain they will miss one another, their communication will be frequent and cheap, and I believe they'll maintain their relationship.
One thing my husband didn't foresee, however... blogging. Who knew?
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." Ken Olson, President, Chariman and Founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
"But what... is it good for?" Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip
"640K ought to be enough for anybody." Bill Gates, 1981
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