Reply 80 of 94, by SiliconClassics
- Rank
- Member
IMHO computing is NOT as much fun as it used to be in the 80's and 90's. Back then, things were evolving rapidly and there was always something brand new that you could do with computers - first 2D imaging, then full-motion video, then 3D, then internet, etc. There was always something to look forward to, and there were great retail stores like Electronics Boutique, Babbages, and CompUSA that showcased all the latest tech goodies for sale. Anticipation and excitement lingered in the air. There were also lots of competing standards - PC, Mac, Amiga, etc., all vying for attention and market share. And different manufacturers had distinct characteristics. A Gateway 2000 system was qualitatively different from a Packard Bell or an IBM. Windows was worlds apart from Mac OS, OS/2, Linux, or BeOS.
Today, almost all of the specialty brick & mortar shops have shut down, and computing has been cheapened and commodified to the point where most new devices are just disposable, generic appliances (with the exception of some Apple products). Differentiation is nearly gone from the marketplace - most PC systems all look and work the same, most of them are hastily assembled by the lowest-cost Chinese manufacturers, and it's hard to imagine any of them being collectible in a decade or two.
The sense I get from surveying the PC landscape today is that we've reached a great plateau from which further ascent is hard to imagine. At this point, we've basically got Star Trek technology in our pockets. How do you improve on a portable full-color window into the entire world that fits in your hand? Neural implants? Augmented-reality eyeglasses? Until some new visionary comes along and redefines computing for the next decade, there's little to be excited about. I think the promise of the information revolution has largely been fulfilled, and the real excitement in the coming decades will be in the fields of biotech and alternative energies. Computing, as we knew it, is finished.