Chase Raz
Friday 08 December 2017
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TECHNOLOGY FOR THE WIN
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Next week, I'm walking my business technology students through a primer on computers and the web.
Of course, I'm going to start at the very beginning and talk about the evolution of computers. That
will progress quickly from Babbage's Differential Engine up to the early microcomputers like the
Altair 8800. Then we'll slow down and talk about Apple, Tandy, Commodore, and IBM.
At about that point, we'll be moving at light speed and I'll backtrack and talk about the Internet.
We'll start with telnet, progress to FTP, then DNS, Gopher, and ultimately the Web. SDF.org will
help me visualize things like SSH and Gopher, but much to my dismay, most of the good FTP sites are
gone. What is left are old unmaintained corporate FTP sites for tech companies (IBM, Logitech,
etc.) and old abandoned pirating FTPs (everyone has moved to p2p networks for piracy).
Anyone remember pseudo-domains? Those were fun. Install bloatware and get access to new,
unapproved, and unsponsored TLDs.
The point is that technology is evolving at an insane pace. It's hard to keep up from day to day,
and sometimes I'm not sure I want to keep up. The technologist and futurist in me loves this pace,
but the business person fights in the world of uncertainty. Will the next big thing be open source
or proprietary? That one question alone can keep me up at night.
As I learn more and more about these wonderful technologies we have, the more I realize I know
virtually nothing. I have fought for most of my life to live as a net-first person and have the
"real world" as my vacation home. It is where I go when I want to relax, sleep, disconnect. But as
technology gets more complex, we also have a way of making it much simpler. Then I feel myself
living in the real word more and using technology how the _normals_ use it, as a tool.
No matter what, it is important to keep learning. Try new software, hardware, and code. Keep
pushing your own envelope even if someone else has already process improved way past your level.
Only then can you learn what is worth your time implementing and what is a futile effort.
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