How many of you recall the hokey IBM ads with Charlie Chaplain? Ah yes, I remember it like it was yesterday. They used the slapstick comedian Chaplain because they wanted to show that using a computer was so easy, even a bumbling idiot could do it. At a mere $3000 (2 months wages for the average household at the time) you too could own a “home” computer.
Fast forward – there is now a computer in almost every household in America, and even what we then thought of as “third world” countries like South Africa have moved out of the dark ages and into the digital age. The dream of a world wide web is nearly that. Still, there are places even in the good old USA that don't have internet (I have a friend who lives on a high mountain top that doesn't even get good cell coverage), but with services like Wildblue and Hughesnet, you can be connected to the internet from almost anywhere.
I find it amazing, looking back at those badly done commercials to conceive that as of Tomorrow – the IBM PC turns 30 years old, and alas Charlie Chaplain may not be the only one breaking out a cane today.
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