Computer History|Computer hardware / software over the past 20 years.

After reading an earlier post about the ways in which society’s leisure activities have evolved over the decades to a point where nearly every household has a computer, or three, I started wondering what if we went beyond the idea of professional sports being played online and took the idea out of the realm of entertainment and raised the stakes considerably. Instead of playing the game of Virtual Warfare…what if war really did go virtual. Think of how it would change the entire shape of the militaries around the world. Instead of spending millions on weapons that could, and one day probably will, wipe all every living thing on earth, they money would be going towards developing better, faster computers, better rendering software and graphics, etc. And unlike the missile sitting in an underground bunker somewhere, this would be something that we could all benefit from. And no more worrying if your loved ones are coming home in a pine box, wars would fought with might of the mind not the spilling of blood. Just think of the evolution of computer technology if funded by the mighty military dollars. Just a thought..something to ponder for us uber geeks I guess.

The most effective way to produce any product is to put certain guidelines and standards in place to dictate how it can be created. These standards are quality driven and are consistent regardless of the company that creates the product. One standard, ISO 15693, is a standard in place for cards that are used to read information within a certain distance or within a specified vicinity.

These standards allow devices to be developed by anyone and work interchangeably as they followed a specific standard in their creation. Take for example the creation of an ATM. The various parts that make up the ATM can have many hands involved to create it. However, when your finger touches the touch screen your request is processed. This is because the standards set in place provide required inputs and outputs as well as quality standards in development.

In many industries who use an assembly approach, having quality standards are a must in order to do business. An organization is created to determine the standards and modify them over time. This governing body is what is used to enforce the rules it set out and thereby keeping the organization a recognized and respected standard across all industries.

One of the most popular functions of the internet is to provide free online games to anyone, anywhere and at anytime, that may be looking for help with passing the time. With more households every year across the world having internet access, consumers have taken to the web to do everything from shopping to reading to participating in leisure activities. With computers taking over more industries in one form or another, your average person regardless of profession is finding themselves navigating the web at least once a day.

The traditional “smoking break” has turned into an internet escape as people take various breaks in the day to search the web and find something interesting to do. From reading the news to participating in racing games, the internet provides an outlet for anyone to escape for a little while and find whatever it is they are looking for.

Every day more sites are popping up containing games, riddles and contests to keep people looking busy while at their desks or pass the time at home. With the growth and acceptance that the internet has received you wonder how long it takes before more athletes stop playing games and take up the events in the virtual world.

When I was much younger, my favorite computer software was Print Shop, originally published in the 1980s. All of the Apple computers in the schools I went to had this software available. Back then, getting time on a computer was a privilege reserved for about once per week, as the entire school would share a group of about 20 computers. Now it seems all public schools have banks of computers lining the walls of each classroom. Surely the students don’t even realize how amazing that is!

At any rate, when I had my few precious minutes of computer free time, I always asked for the Print Shop floppy disks. I marveled, each time, at how many different things I could create. Having grown up learning Basic programming and going to sleep-away camp for Basic, it was simply amazing to me that I could print up banners and pictures with the words I wanted on them—without having to write 100 lines of programming without errors. Oh how I don’t miss those gigantic programming books. As an 8 year old without keyboarding skills, typing in all the lines for a single game could take me all afternoon, only to get an error message and spend several more hours hunting down my errors. I will say this, though—when I occasionally stuck with a program long enough to find all the bugs and get it to work, it didn’t matter how lame the game was. The satisfaction of getting it to run put me on Cloud Nine!