I Want Everyone to Benefit from Technology

My first encounter with computers was in 1981 - when I was in my second year of engineering school when we were asked to take a course in Fortran IV Programming - which is as boring as anything taught at the Faculty of Science.

Having to walk across the campus to the computer centre to reserve the card-punch machine for a period of 15 minutes each time didn't make the class any more interesting either. Besides, who needed computers? I thought I could make do with my newest Casio calculator.

Looking back 20 years, I can now smile at those thoughts.

Fortunately, I didn't neglect computers for too long and in 1982, when Sharp introduced its line of pocket computers equipped with extended BASIC language and a huge 3.5 KB of RAM, I was the first one in the class to adopt it. It changed my life forever.

During the 1980s, I used a shareware communication program called Telix to access many BBSes, participating in many of FIDO Net's international forums. Knowledge could be acquired this way, but mainly on specific topics - many of them computer-related.

Then the Internet, the ultimate network of networks, arrived and I jumped onto the bandwagon in 1994 and learned that Unix was even more unfriendlier than DOS, while Vi made me itch for WordStar compatible text editors. At first, life on the Internet was harder and less fun than travelling in the bit-stream of BBS world.

But then the world wide web arrived, replacing Lynx, and it was fun again, becoming even better as good search engines began to join the fray. Now, not a day goes by without me firing up Google (my favorite search engine) or Copernic.

A lot of people can access any information they want, any time they want, anywhere they want - provided that they have the means to access the Internet. Answers to questions are just one search away. To top it all off, most of this information is, and will always be, free.

I am an avid reader. And I used to read a lot of books, magazines, and newspapers. Now most of what I read, apart from good novels, comes from the Internet. You can't beat the price and the speed.

Computers are also faster and so small you can carry them practically anywhere, be they notebooks or PDAs. So far we are so early into the information age that we might be forgetting that "our" information should be safeguarded from people with malicious intentions.

Although I don't use PGP encryption with my email (mainly because nobody I know is using it - hence I can't send encrypted messages to them), I have worked with important information long enough to know that many times, information that you work with - or personal information that you possess - is priceless. So I protect it vigorously.

I encrypt hard drives on my office machine, my notebook, and on my home machine. Thanks to today's on-the-fly strong encryption technology, my information is more secure (relatively speaking) without any hassle on my part - except for having to key in the passphrase when an encrypted volume is mounted.

The Toys

First Computer: Sharp PC-1500, 3.5 KB plus 8 KB memory module, 8-bit CMOS processor, and a CE-150 color printer/plotter - purchased in 1982. First desktop computer: Apple II compatible computer 48 KB RAM plus 16 KB RAM card, 6502 processor with a Z-80 card for running CP/M OS, two floppy drives - purchased in 1983. Current Computer: PC Compatible, 300 MHz Intel Celeron overclocked to 466 MHz, 128 MB RAM, G-Force 256 SDR 32 MB RAM 3D accelerator, 20 GB hard disk housed in removable rack - purchased in Dec 1998. Some components, like the G-Force and the new hard disk were added later on. (This may sound obsolete but it beats an Athlon T-Bird 1.1 GHz system with 256 MB RAM and a G-Force 2MX by a wide margin - bench-marking by 3D Mark 2001.) On-line experience: 1989-1990 a school Internet account used mostly for receiving and sending school assignments 1990-1992 US BBSes and FIDO Net with my IBM PS/2 50Z and later a CompuAdd 486 25 MHz 1992-1994 Bangkok BBSes (still mostly FIDO Net BBSes) 1993-1994 was a Maximus SysOp for my former employer, having Internet account since 1994 1998-1999 participated in cable modem trial and played some on-line games.

I even encrypt sensitive information on my Palm. For good measure, I also employ a personal firewall on all of my machines that have access to the Internet. You can never be too careful.

Like the necessity for electricity, my life is now so glued to information access that I can't imagine going for a day without having a computer, a notebook, or at least a PDA at my side.

And these are just thoughts from a person who is well into his middle age.

I can't really envisage how things will be for my four-year-old son - who started playing with computers before he was two - when he is in his teens or early twenties.

But looking back at my parents who still let the VCR run with tapes unpaused when they get a glass of water or pick up the phone - even with the remote control nearby - I'm more than aware that adopting new technology actually requires a paradigm shift in thinking on the user's part.

Come to think of it, there are only a very few complex technologies or machines that really have been accepted by the masses. I can only think of two: cars and the telephone, both of which can be operated by my parents.

You might wonder, in a period where computing power and communications have combined into something close to a miracle, what more could we ask for?
Well, I for one want this technology to be embraced by more people from all walks of life, everywhere in the world. I want all generations to be able to benefit from this phenomenon.

Locally, I want the usage of such technology to expand far beyond white collar workers and students. I want my Mom and Dad to use it the way they use their cars and their telephones - in their daily life.

Based on my limited knowledge on the subject, my guess is that this will become a reality when total synchronisation, high-speed wireless communication, encryption technology, an extremely-easy interface, extremely fuzzy logic searches, and extremely well-arranged content is combined and integrated, all working together seamlessly.

That would be like magic, wouldn't it? But Arthur C. Clarke has already stated in his Third Law that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." And I truly believe in that statement.