This Shrinking World

Take yourself back in time. (If you see cave-men or dinosaurs, you went to far)

1983: The Nintendo Entertainment System was released, Microsoft released the Microsoft Mouse for its very new DOS, JC Penny would soon start issuing its own credit card and the first TCP/IP WAN was functional when the United States’ National Science Foundation (NSF) constructed a university network backbone.

In 1983 I could have booted my computer, and opened a document with a list of phone numbers, one of them being JC Penny. Called JC Penny and ordered a game to be mailed to me for the Nintendo, and I would have to wait probably a couple weeks before getting the game.

Now fast forward to today: You can log into Amazon.com, find a movie you like in their Unbox selection of titles and have it immediatly sent to your TiVo. Total transaction time (including time to download the movie), only a couple of hours.

Interconnected systems are here, they are what makes this world smaller and smaller every day and they will only continue to grow. Remember the old addage that your bathroom scale will one day tell your fridge how much you weigh? Expect it… soon.