Evolution of Technology
Video Producer: http://bestreviews.com/best-laptop-computers#history-of-the-computer-desk
The evolution of technology can happen so fast. This is a funny and fun video that basically sums up this blog.
Thank you technology. No wonder I have so many icons on my computer.
This Time Capsule moment is brought to you by www.timecapsule.com.
Past
I have always been a geek. I am not ashamed of it! That doesn’t mean that I wasn’t bullied because of it.
The year was 1986. Until that point I had little contact with the computer. I was a 6th grader in Junior High School. Once a week, we took an hour out of our normal school schedule to go to the computer lab. This hour began my love affair with technology. Now, this is a long way from the technology of today. This was a time of the Apple 2e and Apple 2GS. Our school did not have any IBM or even IBM Compatible (What you call a PC today) computers. We didn’t even have a Macintosh. All we had were Apple 2e and Apple 2GS computers. There were no hard drives. No modems. No Internet. We only had Dot Matrix printers. The entire school only had 2 color printers.
Our computer lab teacher was teaching us to program in Basic. This was a computer language. I fell in love. I loved the idea that I could type in a few lines of code and the computer would display text, and even graphics. Now, I am not talking about photos of my friends and I am not talking about a facebook page. These ideas had not been thought of yet. Digital photography had not been invented. I am talking about color pixels on a screen. I decided that I liked the concept of this.
I began coming into school early to get more time on the computers. I ate lunch fast so I could spend more time in the lab. I even stayed after school, when I could, to gain more time on the computers. Then it happened. I realized that I wanted to keep the software that I had written. I wanted to take it with me, but the disks at the school had to stay there. So, I went to my local RadioShack and purchased my first set of Disks.
Now, I know what you may be thinking . . . CDs! You would be thinking wrong. These were Floppy Disks! 5 1/4 inch Floppy Disks! They stored a whopping 512 Kb of data . . . on each side (If they were “Double sided, Double Density” Disks, and mine were! I only bought the best!). To put that into perspective . . . Today, the average 8 Megapixel image is around 4 meg. Using both sides of my disks, it would have taken 4 disks, written on both sides, to save 1 picture. I wanted to protect them, so I cut up one of my cardboard paper folders and taped it back together at the right size to keep them from getting folded. I then put that new cover into my Trapper Keeper so they would be really protected.
I was in High School before I upgraded again. I bought the 3.5 inch Floppy disk. While the name suggests they were a smaller version of the same thing, this was not really true. The smaller version could hold 1 full meg of data and came in a plastic disk that was self protected. By now, IBM was on the scene and the 386 computer was all the rage. There were hard drives in computers, and most of my teachers had upgraded from the red grade book to the computer.
When I was a Sophomore in High School, my dad finally upgraded his office to a real computer. He bought a Canon, IBM Compatible PC. The advertisement sticker on the case said it was a “Lightning Fast 486 DX2 processor at 133 Mhz.” It had a “Huge 167 Meg hard drive that is perfect for storing all kinds of media.” By today’s comparisons, the average smartphone is about 100 times larger and around 80 times faster than this computer! I remember when we purchased a modem for this computer and finally got internet access . . . We were thrilled to have a 9600 baud modem and 50 hours of America Online Internet access each month!
Present
Computers have come a long way since then! I am always amazed when I see the new technologies! I believe we live and die by the computers. Y2K was a real threat to our world, or so we thought. I waited and wondered if our world would come to an end after the Y2K bug hit. But we survived. No, scratch that . . . we thrived. The computer has replaced almost everything in our offices these days. It seems that all of our work is done on the computer. They keep getting faster and faster, along with smaller and smaller. Our hard drives are getting bigger in the data they store, and smaller in the size they are. The hard drive in my cell phone is the size of the fingernail on my pinkie finger. When I first started saving data, I would have needed the backseat and trunk of a Chevy Cavalier to store the same 64 Gb of data!!!
The computer has replaced our checkbook, our filing cabinet, our rolodex, our checkbook, and even our telephone! The videos we watch on Youtube in real time would have taken me 8 hours to download on AOL! The computer has replaced Video Tape, DVDs, and Film. They have replaced the fax machine, the calendar, and the personal, hand written letter. It has brought our world closer together, and yet, somehow, our relationships further apart. They have replaced calculators, encyclopedias, and even a need for most libraries. We can read our newspapers online and can visit global destinations through Google Earth. We can go to School, Learn a trade, and even get a college degree. We can order pizza, make reservations, and even go to work . . . All from the comfort of our kitchen table in our pajamas and bunny slippers.
Future
What do you think the future of computers will look like? Save your favorite memorable computer souvenirs in your own “Any Occasion” DIY Time Capsule from https://www.timecapsule.com/product/milestone-collection-any-occasion-diy-time-capsule/. It would be interesting and fun to make a time capsule for 2015, then open it 20 years from now and reminisce what computer items or other items you saved in it to reflect this year. Will we still be using laptops or tablets in 2035?
Yes, the computer has changed our lives . . . But it seems to me that our desks have not gotten any cleaner! How is it that our computers, laptops, cell phones and tablets have been able to replace dozens of items, even rooms full of stuff, yet our desks and offices still look like a tornado hit them!?!?
Technology is a wonderful thing, but it can only go so far to help us be organized. What does your desk look like?
Post a photo of your desk in the comments section. We want to get to know you, our blog fans, a little more. Thank you for sharing.
Making Milestone Moments Count,
– Mark