When I first started computing, my kit has no casing and was purchased from a "scientific instruments" company. The entire nuts and bolts came with 2k ROM (yes, scan these lines - 2 kilobytes) expanable to 8! File storage was saved on a chancy tape recorder cassette with some kind of security that check for checksum errors. No printer (we modified a used TTY purchased from Telecoms to do the job). It was those days when you ask for software, the receptionist will redirect you to the tupperware section! How things have changed.

Less Personal
When I sit at my PC, I find myself surfing the net rather than using the existing software in my 24-gig hard disk! With the advent of broadband services, more and more, we will be doing our computing on the web, using ISP servers as web, email and even storage space rather than our own PCs.

Away from the Desktop
Today's users are chained to the desktop. But this is also changing. With PDAs (personal digital assistants) becoming more capable, there is no need to be hemmed in by the constrains of the desktop. For example each morning as I changed into fresh clothes to work, I leave my PDA on its cradle and hot-synch it at the press of a single button. By the time I put on my tie, the PDA has updated about 500 pages of news, devotionals and everything I would like to read from the internet. At the office, I only answer emails and back home, if I am in the mood, surf the web; if not there are books to read, people to visit and courses to attend.

Smaller, Slimmer and More Powerful
It was only a few years ago that Toshiba's subnotebook, the Libretto was my dream machine. Today, Sony's Vaio is the undisputed king. Desktops, Notebooks, PDA are becoming smaller, slimmer and more powerful. The keyboard is rapidly being replaced by a scratchpad. Soon, voice input will take over.

Think Out of the Box
With Grid coming in to replace the Internet as the next big thing, WAP and GPS on handphones and wireless internet services on PDAs, nobody can tell exactly what the future will hold. One thing for sure, we need to shed away notions of computing that we are used to and think out of a box. Micro machines, flash and smart media, wafer-thin foldable displays - all of these will lead the way to innovative personal computers that fit our lifestyle and not the other way around.

Isn't modern technology wonderful?

You'll Never Run Out of Hard Disk Space Again or How To Organise Your Hard Disk. Useful Bible Software: Lesson Maker and Word Search. Atari ST: Best Gaming PC Ever. 7 Things To Look For: When Purchasing a PC. Things that Worked For Me: Best PC Deals. Consoles on the PC: No Repairs Needed. Emulators on the PC: Back to the Arcade Classics. The Real Thing: Free Arcade (original ROMs) Games. Atari: The Mother of Home Consoles.

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