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In 1996, I was in primary two; fast forward 6 years, in 2001, I came in contact with computers and its attendant technology, where else than in Lagos of Nigeria. This marks a tech revolution in my world. Since then I have never been the same; I practically became a gadget freak.
Between 2001 and 2016, bearing in mind that tech revolution began to take its toll in the year 2000 in Nigeria, technology has changed the world in diverse ways. Looking back into time is a stark reminder of just how much the awareness of technology has advanced barely two decades in our clime, occasioned by accelerations in the telecoms sector.
It is easy to forget that this was a time before many people had even a dial-up modem to access the World Wide Web and send Electronic mail, let alone a dedicated broadband connection that did not prevent anyone else in the house using the phone for actual calls.
When I was entering primary school, Windows 95 was about to launch. Windows 95 certainly did make PCs more popular, and was followed by the massive success of Windows XP, which, despite being unsupported by its maker, is still being used by millions around the globe.
Counting Windows 10, there have been eight versions of Microsoft’s ubiquitous operating system in the last two decades: 98, Me, Vista, 2000, XP, 7, 8, and now 10. Make that seven if you do not count Windows 2000 as a consumer OS.
Wait a minute; if you played Dangerous Dave, Shadow Knight and Prince of Persia or even the DOS version of Mortal Combat, then you are on the other side.
The import of the Internet and its attendant impact cannot be exhaustively discussed. It speaks volume more than 20 editions of encyclopaedia can hold. These days there is not much you can do with a Smartphone in Flight mode. Virtually every app relies on its connection to the ‘information superhighway’, the Internet. And, what is the use of an offline PC?
How technology has changed the world in 20 years!
The recommendation back then in 2002 was to buy a machine with a 200MB hard drive, 8MB of RAM and a 75MHz or 100MHz processor. Getting online was an expensive business. Your bargain basement PC cost a fortune, and that didn’t even include a modem, CD-ROM drive or sound card. If you had those you had a “multimedia” PC, and it means you are top notch.
Today, even basic Smartphones have a CPU that is at least 10x more powerful than a 2002 PC and costs roughly one-tenth as much. In the budget laptops group, today, you will find models with 8GB of RAM, 1TB hard drives and processors that run at over 3GHz, and you can have all that after a little hustle.
We look back 20 years and smile at the paltry figures, no doubt, but right now these machines are veritable bargains. Of course, we now know the price of everything but the value of nothing.
In fact, the Internet has changed more than just technology: it has changed the way we communicate, the way we work, do our homework, listen to music… in short; it has changed the way we live.
The future of computing, and that of technology, is even brighter. 3D printing technology is with us already; the Internet of things is here with us, and I am expecting when I will start downloading houses, cars and what have you in the actual sense of it.
Smarthomes — where you can dial your kitchen from the office and you get your dinner made before you are home, where you can have a robot doing house chores and drones running errands for you — are here with us. Self-driving and smokeless cars are here with us.
Air-conditioned clothing, gadgets that measure the performance of athletes, and the ones you are counting up in your mind now, are all here with us – all thanks to the advancement of technology, and as LG puts it, life’s good!
Who wouldn’t want to pimp their existence!? Who wouldn’t want to be sophisticated in this era!?
With the current drive for Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), the future of the world with technology will be like some sci-fi movies.
But, are you prepared for this future!?