| Given the
uncertainty of late in the computer industry, I was still somewhat
dismayed last week as the celebration of 20th year since the birth of the
IBM PC took a decidedly nasty turn when some pundits
called for the death of the PC. The first thought that came to mind when I
read this was who determines whether a guy is bright enough to become a
critic or "pundit" whatever that is. However, when I think about
it a little bit more, I realize that these guys have same right to call
themselves experts as I have to call myself a guru. The trick is whether
or not you can convince enough people that you know what you are talking
about.
Hopefully over the last ten years I've been
able to convince a few people that I know a little bit about personal
computers. Either way, there's nothing that says my opinion is any less
important than the opinion of some pundit.
I got my start working on personal
computers at the ripe old age of 13 when I first got exposed to a Tandy
TRS-80 Model I computer that my guidance counselor at school purchased
himself to keep student records on. He was gracious and kind enough to let
a few of the students have access to the machine and I have been forever
grateful to Mr. Kimbrel ever since. He opened a door to a world that I had
only dreamed of before and though our programming skills were something
less than stellar, he lit a fire in me to learn all I could about personal
computers and what they could do. (Note to teachers: The effect that this
one event had on me was profound and took place outside of a normal
classroom setting. Please do not assume that you can only help kids when
you are teaching. Many times what you do or say when you are not
"teaching" is far more important!)
Since my family could not afford a computer
(the cost was thousands of dollars), I searched for every opportunity I
could find to spend time on a computer. I worked on machines that now make
up displays in the Boston Computer Museum. These included the TRS-80 Model
I (That was quickly nicknamed the Trash 80 probably unfairly.), the TRS
Color Computer, the Apple II and the Apple IIc, the Adam Computer, the
Commodore 64, and the Sinclair 2000 with it's 2k of memory. I worked on
them all and came to love each one for their own special quirks.
Then in 1981, IBM release a product
developed by a renegade band of technical wizards holed up in Boca Raton,
Fl which was assumed to be the last stop down the ladder at IBM. Unknown
to anyone at IBM but the developers, this product would change the world.
The IBM Personal Computer or IBM PC was born.
I didn't get to work on a PC immediately
because the cost was about $5,000 bucks and it took a while for enough of
them to get out there to become available to us lowly students, but it was
apparent that the race was on. Killer apps like Visicalc and Lotus 1-2-3
began to show up and with that the rest was history. The first
professional computer job I held was in college working for a business
that had a PC and a copy of Lotus 1-2-3 version 1.0a. It was marvelous. By
today's standards we were creeping along at 4Mhz with 256K of RAM and a
whopping 10Mb hard drive. But to me it was like flying a space shuttle. I
could make it do anything I could dream up. I wrote games for the PC,
business programs, utilities and tools to help with my homework. With a
copy of Wordstar, I wrote all my school papers and presentations.
And when all the dust settled it is 16
years later and I am writing this opinion piece on a "slow"
400Mhz Celeron PC with 200Mb of RAM and 6 gigabyte hard drive and am
posting it on the Internet for the whole world to read. It has been a short
16 years and one hell of a trip. At the age of 36, I have seen the world
change in ways my parents never could have dreamed. Now, I have a 13 year
old step-son and together we are building him a screaming computer that I
would have given my right leg (As a programmer I can't give away any
arms!) to have.
Is the world better for it because some
guys who had nothing to lose got crazy at IBM and invented the PC?
Absolutely! Are there things about this new world I would change?
Absolutely! Has the personal computer lived up to the expectations I had
at the age of thirteen? Absolutely! Does the personal computer still have
a future in this world? ABSOLUTELY! No revolution is perfect. And, it is
no accident that the word evolution is the better part of the word
revolution.
Just think of how far we have come. Twenty
years after the invention of the automobile, the car was still trying to
become great. Twenty years after the invention of the light bulb most
people still didn't have electricity. We don't know what the next killer
app will be. We have no clue where the PC will be in 20 more years. It may
not even look same or operate the same way. Windows may be a think of the
past. But the concept of the personal computer will still be just as valid
in twenty years as it was twenty years ago. The PC has died several deaths
over the last twenty years and will probably die many more times in the
next twenty. The PC that sits under my desk would have been unrecognizable
to me twenty years ago. And hopefully that process will continue. But the
concept of making a computer "personal" should never die.
I can only hope that in 20 years, my son
can look back as I do from time to time and admit to himself that it has
been great to be a part of a changing world and give credit where credit
is due: to the Personal Computer in whatever form it has taken by then.
Paul H. Tarver |
