The Good and the Bad Computer People

I worked in the Computer Industry for twenty years, 1980-2000. and I am here to tell you that these were bad guys, almost entirely,

They knew computers was where the money was being made, and they were determined to get that money, And they succeeded, except for a few exceptions in the Nineties.

When Sun Microsystems tried to take on Microsoft with their Java programming language, and Microsoft shot them down. But not entirely - the basic idea of a program that could run anywhere, was too powerful to resist, and Microsoft tried to take it over.

But Oracle had bought Sun, took Microsoft to court over this, and won its case!

I should also mention Netscape, that produced the first free browser program. This was also shot down by Microsoft, when it produced its own free browser - Internet Explorer (IE).

This set the stage for good and bad Computer Guys - where the bad had always won. But the Good Guys had a advantage - they could make better products, much better products! And these always won in the marketplace. Especially if they were free.

Very soon (in the next twenty years, or so) a few companies took over the Computer industry - Apple, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. But Microsoft was being forced to change - for the better. It had to, to stay in business.

Something else appeared, that changed the industry completely - the Cloud. That made computing cheaper, and even more powerful. And something else - free online training courses, anyone could take, to make them computer experts!

A new world had dawned, that most people could not comprehend at all. And they reacted violently, and tried to stop it.

The world had become divided into those apposed to all this change (most of the people) and those who benefited from these changes, and wanted more of them.

This smaller group contained all kinds of people, but they had one thing in common - the Computer, and its networks, the Internet and and the Cellular.

Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say these new technologies had them, and was not letting go of them.