Mardo Makes A Prediction Regarding The Future of Computers
By Mart Wilburn AKA Mardo
Mardo’s Computer Repair has been in business for almost 30 years. For the last 29 years, Mardo’s has enjoyed making new customers and supporting the needs of his existing customers.
With the improvement of technology over the years, and with more modern devices, the need for computer repair has diminished since Covid hit the world. It affected a lot of business, and Mardo’s Computer Repair was not spared. Today, Mardo is only doing about 20% of the work he used to do back in 2015. Of course, it wasn’t only the Covid situation that caused his business to slow, there were other extenuating circumstances involved, such as his recent move to Arkansas.
But that is typical with almost all technology. Particularly with computers. A device is improved upon and the added amounts of processing power and memory expansion, computers today are faster and more reliable than the early days of computing. And a lot of computers today don’t require much maintenance, short of keeping their system and anti-virus programs up to date.
In the early stages of network computing, if a company had the need for a computer, they would obtain a large, mainframe computer which did all of the processing power. These mainframe computers were huge and could easily fill a room with all of the equipment. Mainframe computers held the operating system, all the programs that the company used and needed, and of course the data.
Attached to the mainframe computer were “dummy terminals” or “nodes” that connected to the mainframe computer via a “serial data cable.” These dummy terminals had no processing power at all. They were just a simple monitor that displayed shared information from the mainframe computer. The computer technician’s job in those days was focused on the mainframe computer. If the terminal failed, replacing the node was a simple fix.
As time went on, computers became smarter and smaller to the point that people began to want a computer in their own home. In the early days of home computers, manufacturers such as Commadore and Texas Instruments, began to flood the market with affordable home PC’s. These home PCs didn’t require a lot of processing power or memory. It did, however, require the user to learn a computer language. “Basic” and “DOS’ were among the early home computer languages offered, and introduced to the public well after earlier forms of much more complex languages such as Fortran & Cobol.
In early 1982, the author of this article was the owner of a Texas Instruments 99/4A, a complete functioning micro-computer that was packed into a keyboard.
The TI-99/4a operated on a TI TMS99000 at 3 MHz and included 16 KB of RAM and 26 KB of ROM. The computer included a RS-232 interface card and a 32K memory expansion card as well as a Data Storage cassette. *
The unit Mardo purchased didn’t come with a monitor or any automatic data storage. It also came with very minimal random-access memory (RAM) – which wasn’t needed in those days as graphics wasn’t a thing yet. Mardo connected a small black and white TV to his newly acquired computer to use as a monitor. He would spend 45 minutes to an hour typing in his program, using Basic language, play the game and then lose all of the programing work once the computer was turned off. In those days, data storage for the Texas Instruments 994/A wasn’t included with the base unit . Mardo eventually purchased a cassette recorder to store his programs he had typed into the computer, so that when he wanted to play a game, he would simply insert the cassette in the recorder and “load” the program into the computer and then play the game. As time went on, Mardo joined a Texas Instruments User’s Group – where different users would exchange programs via cassette tapes and instantly, he had a new way of obtaining programs without the tedious efforts of inputting them into the computer. Mardo even went to the extent of purchasing a voice/speech synthesizer that attached to the side of the computer and it allowed the computer to “speak” the text out-loud.
As time went on, more and more computers were being obtained and used at home. Some tech savvy people would connect to “Bulletin Boards” via a telephone landline. Bulletin Boards were online data bases – and accessed via a phone line that used a Phone Modem on each end of the connection. A person who hosted the Bulletin Board, had their computer connected to a dedicated phone line and others would be able to connect to the host computer using “Dial-up” phone connection, using credentials the host would provide to the user. And it was sloooow!
It was this style of connecting one computer to another that eventually evolved to what we now know as the Internet. Today, computers are no longer limited to connecting to just one computer at a time, but they can connect to hundreds of thousands of computers in a single online experience. We call this new technology the World Wide Web – or WWW for short.
As time continued to evolve and as computer technology began to flourish, the need for someone with computer and technology knowledge became apparent. It also opened the doors for a lot of people who had desires to assist people with computer needs to earn a handsome living in the process.
Now here we are, as the second quarter of the 21 century is about begin, we have moved into a world of online computing, we call “Cloud Computing”. All of one’s data can be stored in the “Cloud” which means no more data loss. Yay! This new technology is great, but it doesn’t address the constant breakdown of computers.
And the purpose of this article is to do a little “Mardo prediction.” Read on.
Mardo Predicts the Future of Computers
We are headed back to the original idea of the ol’ mainframe computer.
In the near future, we won’t have a need for home or business computers. Everything will be on the “Cloud”. Operating systems, programs, data. Etc. Everything!
Home users and businesses will have a monitor similar to the old school “Dummy Terminal” like in the beginning, but will have little to no processing power to speak of. This dummy terminal will have a keyboard and mouse, a cable that provides power to the unit, and a cable or WiFi ability that allows connectivity to a “modem” that connects this device to the Internet. Nothing more.
Once the dummy terminal is powered up, it will connect directly to the Internet immediately. There on the screen, will be a prompt for the user to enter their user’s name, passcode, and a network to connect to, if applicable. And Viola! There it is! Everything! All of your data, including the operating system, choice programs, and all of your network access will be available through this inexpensive dummy terminal. If something goes haywire with this dummy terminal, you just simply replace it. No need to call out a computer tech. – just replace the unit. And you won’t need to worry about viruses, because that service will be provided by the provider of the cloud system. You won’t have to worry about data loss, because the host will secure your data (for a fee). And so there will hardly ever be a need for a computer technician. Pictured below is the infamous Maytag Repairman ** – sitting there, bored, with his head on his hand waiting for the phone to ring so that he can go fix a washing machine. In the computer world, that will be Mardo.
And that, folks, is where we are headed and it is in the very near future.
Mardo of Mardo’s Computer Repair fell into the technology twilight zone at the perfect time. He was young enough to understand the technology, and yet old enough to see the potential it offered. As a computer technician, there are only a few words that expresses his love and devotion of computers – and that’s “He digs it!”
So, as Mardo is preparing to retire in the next few years, and with the slowing of his business, retirement is actually welcomed. Not to worry, Mardo will still be around for a few more years, but on a very relaxed schedule. So, if you are in need of computer repair, and you cannot wait until everything moves to the cloud, give Mardo a call! Between dipping his foot in a pool somewhere in the South Pacific and dining at a fine restaurant, Mardo will try to “squeeze you in” on his tight schedule and resolve your PC needs with the fine touch you have come to expect over the past 29 years!
Happy Computing!
Resources:
- * Texas Instruments 99/4A Image & Info: https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_1064832
- ** Maytag Repairman:
