Prior to the 1970s, computer and electronics-based technology
was hardly a pervasive part of our everyday lives. Automobiles
were not yet computerized, fax machines were just taking off, and,
significantly, the personal computer had yet to be popularized.
Individuals who dreamed of a career in information technology
departments were likely those who happened to come into contact
with technology. Microsoft founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen
famously attended the Lakeside School in Seattle together that
had a time-shared PDP-10 computer, which allowed them to
learn computer programming and, equally important, to dream big
dreams that would have an impact on us all.
Today technology is everywhere. Some of us are awakened by
clocks that are MP3 players, have coffee makers that operate on
electronic timers, navigate the routes we drive each day with global
positioning systems (GPSs), check in to flights and select our seats
before we arrive at the airport, and operate Blackberries to send
and receive email messages with colleagues wherever in the world
we may be.