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I am old enough to remember when computers were mystic machines housed in air-conditioned rooms with hordes of operators beavering away at machines which produced the punch cards which told the computer what to do. Then came the first desktops, primitive by today’s standards but still needing protection, they were housed in rooms where no one could smoke, eat or drink.
Now we have computers so powerful that we have to produce complicated computer games in order to exercise them! To the older generation they are a marvel, to the middle generation a means to an end, to the younger generation, a toy! As an engineer I like to understand how a thing works. The mechanical and electrical parts of a computer I can cope with, but the software! That’s another story. I have never understood programming and probably never will, after all, if Microsoft needs thousands of software engineers to produce an operating system, what chance do I have! No, the fun is in using the programs, not producing them (although a certain friend of mine would probably disagree). One of the “pleasures” is upgrading (and there are always plenty of options available!). Pretty soon that brand new PC will start to look old fashioned and get really slow. You don’t always notice this slowing until you try out a friend’s new machine then suddenly you realize that you must have a new motherboard with faster RAM and that latest CPU. Of course, once you have these components you realize that you also need a faster, bigger, hard drive and the latest video card. So now you have the latest gear and assemble it and sit back to enjoy the performance. This is the point when you realize that the room is getting warm! Oh no, you also need a refrigerator to cool everything down! So what do I use a computer for? Well, keeping in touch is one use, whatever did we do before we had e-mail? Writing letters, storing, enhancing and printing digital photographs. Keeping on top of finances, internet banking, internet shopping. Producing web sites like this one. Learning with encyclopedias like Britannica and Encarta. Training on new programs like Autodesk Inventor, Pro Engineer, Code V (if you are an engineer of course). Research for your family tree and a host of other uses too numerous to list.
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A modern PC case with side window and internal lighting-not everybody’s taste! |
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A modern hard drive |
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Few products can claim to have revolutionised civilisation in the way that the PC has. From the preserve of the high-tech research laboratory to the table top of the majority of homes in the land, the computer has not only eased our workload, it has entertained us, educated us and provided us with a method of spending endless amounts of money (upgrading).
To say we would be lost without computers is understatement, in my opinion civilisation would crumble! |
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