This cycle was because of networking. Early personal computers had no network connection at all. You would run software from cassette tape, floppy disk, or (later) CD-ROM. You could get a modem,...
This cycle was because of networking. Early personal computers had no network connection at all. You would run software from cassette tape, floppy disk, or (later) CD-ROM. You could get a modem, but they were very slow and tied up your phone line.
Getting computers into homes and offices is what the early PC “revolution” was all about. Microsoft’s first mission statement was “a computer on every desk and in every home.” Making personal computers usefully self-sufficient on a day-to-day basis was necessary to have them in homes at all.
These days, it’s worth thinking about what you would actually use a computer for if it’s not on the network. The computers that people interact with are mostly used for communication, so they are kind of boring without a network connection. (Embedded computers usually aren’t networked, but they have other jobs.)
Offline computing for extended periods seems sort of like going off the grid. You need to be pretty dedicated or live in a remote area (and probably both) to want to do that. For the rest of us, it’s more like camping.
This cycle was because of networking. Early personal computers had no network connection at all. You would run software from cassette tape, floppy disk, or (later) CD-ROM. You could get a modem, but they were very slow and tied up your phone line.
Getting computers into homes and offices is what the early PC “revolution” was all about. Microsoft’s first mission statement was “a computer on every desk and in every home.” Making personal computers usefully self-sufficient on a day-to-day basis was necessary to have them in homes at all.
These days, it’s worth thinking about what you would actually use a computer for if it’s not on the network. The computers that people interact with are mostly used for communication, so they are kind of boring without a network connection. (Embedded computers usually aren’t networked, but they have other jobs.)
Offline computing for extended periods seems sort of like going off the grid. You need to be pretty dedicated or live in a remote area (and probably both) to want to do that. For the rest of us, it’s more like camping.
Remember how the personal computer was to liberate us from the mainframe ?
For those who did not get the Saturn hint at the end, I'll leave this here.