The Computer - An Appliance!

Having a part-time 'hobby job' in a friend's computer store has been interesting to say the least. I have come into contact with persons from all walks of life, all socio-economic levels, and various levels of computer knowledge. One point that I have noticed is the fact that a computer has turned into . . . an APPLIANCE!

Everybody "needs" a computer.

It is 'needed' to correspond with others, check the weather, observe the news of the world, pay bills, watch your stocks tank on wall street, check the banking account, do homework, check out books from the library (yes, there still is a library), work from home, catch the TV episode you missed, post your family photos, read gossip, shop for groceries and other products, and play games just to mention a few.

In our current economic situation, I'm finding that people still 'need' computers. And when they 'break' or malfunction, they bring them to our service department for adjustment, or come in and buy parts to fix or upgrade the computer.

Depending upon the backlog of units waiting to be 'fixed,' it could be a few days until it is ready.

The comments I hear are interesting . . . all related to how soon they want it back, and how will they function without the computer.

I've been involved with computers since the late 1970's, starting out with magnetic computer cards, similar to the ones IBM mainframes used with the punchcards. I've seen it evolve from those cards to cassette tapes, 8 inch floppies, 5 1/4 inch floppies, 3 1/2 inch floppies, hard drives, all the way to the flash drives (thumb drives or jump drives) we use today. Next is the solid state hard drives (no moving parts).

I've seen the personal computer go from being a rare, novelty item in a home to now, where people cannot live without them in many, if not all, cases. Is that good or bad?

It is as common in a home now as an icebox (refrigerator) or stove. How many homes have microwave ovens? How many homes have more than one computer?

IT IS NOW AN APPLIANCE!

Additionally, I have observed that more people are having older computers fixed or upgraded, and buying fewer new computers. Many are now starting to build/configure computers by themselves. It's not hard at all to do. Just a little advice and help from you friendly computer store, and you are set. Some individuals are even buying used computers which others have discarded as part of their upgrade path.

I had three computers until recently when I reluctantly disconnected my older Macintosh which I hadn't used in over a year. I've crossed over to "the dark side" as I used to say to my old Mac Buddies.

Over 20 years ago I set my 2 1/2 year old daughter in front of a Macintosh and showed her how to run it for her games and learning programs. The staff at the Montessori school said that was a bad idea. Her Macintosh notebook is her lifeline to the world now.

Usually I spend about a total of three hours a day on the computer doing all the tasks I mentioned above. I haven't played a game on my computer (or iPod - yes, have one) for over a year or more.

Could I exist without it? Not very well. How about you?

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