The Impact of the Computer

I can explain this best by referring to my own life.

I graduated as an Electronic Engineer, from the U of Illinois, in 1959. This meant I was an expert in Vacuum Tubes. This was the technology that made Electronics possible. These tubes were highly developed, mass-produced, and inexpensive.

If you had a problem with your car radio, you took it to your drugstore, where they had a tube tester. You checked the tubes, one by one - and it you found a defective one, you bought a replacement for it, from the drugstore - who had a good supply of them in stock. Anything unusual they could order, for next day delivery.

I specialized in Radar. The latest one, the FPS-35 was so powerful that the one located on Montauk Point, on the tip of Long Island - could detect the liftoff of missiles from Cape Kennedy, in Florida! This was a three-story building, full of vacuum tubes - with an antenna on the top of the building, half the size of the football field! It now stands deserted, as part of a State Park.

I worked as an Engineer, for 20 years, and made good money at it. But then the Transistor, and Solid State devices appeared - and made vacuum tubes obsolete! This was 1980, and I was out of a job - and completely out of a job.

But there were jobs, in Computers, in Southern California. We didn't know this at first, and called our new jobs High Tech. But then the Personal Computer came along - and we could see where our future would be.

I moved to Silicon Valley, where the Internet took over. We didn't know how it would take over, for about 10 years - and still don't know how it does this. completely. But it has taken over anyway. And I am using it to write this blog.

Then the Cloud appeared - I won't try to explain it to you, but take my word for it - it is out of this world!

But I am saving the best part for last - all this computer stuff, is making money - and a lot of it!