Thursday, July 12, 2007

Computers Twenty Five Years Ago

Here is a link to an article written twenty-five years ago this month by James Fallows about personal computers and word processing. It really is an illustration of just how far we have come. He brags that his computer has 48 K of RAM.......my current (cheap) computer has 1 GB of RAM. He has an 8 bit processing chip...my processor is based on a 64 bit chip. He has a 12 inch green TV monitor. I have a 19 inch HD flatscreen. He begins with two tape machines for storage (and upgrades to floppys with 100 K of storage) I have a 320 GB internal hard drive, a 120 GB external hard drive, and my 3.5 floppys hold 1 MB. My flashdrive holds 2 GB) He has a converted IBM selectric typewriter as a printer. I have a cheap ($50) laser printer that is inconceivably better.

One of the dangers he talks about is becoming addicted to the computer. This is in the days before public access to the internet, the world wide web (WWW), ISPs and anything but the utmost basic of graphics. I wonder where he is today, and how he is coping? Well it looks like he is still writing, and still using new technology.

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