The Professional Developer is the monthly newsletter of the Dbase Language Professional Developers Group, dedicated to the advancement of knowledge among Dbase developers.

do Therese Padila

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Opinions provided by newsletter articles, or by speakers, members or guests who address the meeting are individual opinions only, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of DLaP. All opinions and information should be carefully considered, and DLaP is not liable for any incidental or consequential damages in connection with, or arising out of, the furnishing or use of any information or opinions.

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mentality” and urging “distributed processing”. Relatively inexpensive and capable computers were being mass manufactured and marketed to individuals.

Believe me, no large corporation in the world would have, initially, bet the farm on the success of the small personal computer. But once that market acceptance was proved, they jumped on the proverbial bandwagon with gusto. Over the next several years we saw thepenvnal copier, the personal fax and the personal portable phone. A creative sunburst of labor and time saving, as well as, communication enhancing electronic products became available to the ordinary citizen, - who was full of his or her own creative ideas on how to make fertile use of the new machines. The increases in overall productivity are still evident and individual creativity from, science to scriptwriting, has been enriched.

The following quotes are from the August 11, 1990 issue of Science News:

“Many scientists and engineers, looking back just a few years, find it hard to imagine how they got along without their facsimile machines and networked computers. . . . To an astonishing degree, electronic mail carried over computer networks and documents transmitted by facsimile machines have already supplanted the more traditional means of formally exchanging scientific ideas and data.”

“A National Science Foundation report states: . . . The goal is to build no less than a distributed intelligence, (emphasis added)

fully and seamlessly networked, with fully supported computational assistance designed to accelerate the pace and quality of discourse, and a broadening or the awareness of discovery.”

In the United States more new small businesses have been started over the last five years than in any comparable period ir history. Many of them, if not most, were able to compete for the first time because the capital cost of entry had been significantly lowered. Meanwhile, the micro-computer phenomenon reinvigorated the electronics manufacturing industry throughout the free world. Coincidentally, we have seen one of the greatest periods of economic expansion in history.

You would never have found those sentiments and activities behind the “Iron Curtain”! Beyond the political restrictions, East European countries simply do not have the electronic infrastructure to support such activities and goals. That fact was not lost on the leading intellectual communities in those countries. The gap between “East” and “West” had become sc painfully obvious, not just in consumer goods, but in knowledge; in intellectual productivity and the rapid sharing of ideas. The “East” had become isolated, by choice, - from choice. Even the average East European citizen, who was able to catch occasional glimpses of the amazing range of choices afforded an individual in the “West”, felt the detachment from the great “idea party” that was going on.

My contention is that the personal computer, and the subsequent fallout of all the other

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The Newsletter of the Dbase Language Professional Developers Group, September 1990

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