The Technology River

You know technology is a lot like a river flowing by.  You can reach down and grab it.  For that instance you understand a piece of the master puzzle.  Then you look up and see the rest of the water has passed you by and the little bit of water you cling to is dated and slipping away.  Today’s technology is moving so fast that it takes all of one’s energy just to stand on the shore and watch it turn into tomorrow’s new creations.  Let me illustrate.  There was a time back in the late 1980s and early 1990s where I worked at length on Apple Macintosh computers.  The interface was so much simpler than using BASIC computer language to write the most rudimentary programs as I had been taught in school.  The Apple was sleek and easy to use.  It was surely the future.  I worked extensively on the system and had all my information saved in its format.  Then IBM computers started appearing with this “Windows” thing on them.  It was not compatible with my Apple data so I paid it no attention.  It would seem that I was one of the few who ignored Mr. Gates’ new software platform.  Pretty soon I was discovering everyone had an “IBM Compatible” computer and the only people left using Apples were architects and other designers.  It is safe to say I do not fall into that category.  Now I had a problem.  I was standing next to the river of technology just letting go of the water I had scooped up.  Unfortunately, the advent of the dominant Windows platform was now far downstream.  The only thing to do was wade into this river and try to pick up on the new method from those who had already been baptized in the new religion.  It was like learning the alphabet backward at first but with the help of some friends and coworkers I converted to Windows.  I had to be careful, though.  I was standing in the middle of the technology river with new products all around moving passed, becoming outdated (The Walkman), replaced by (The Discman) and improved upon (The MP3) all while I was consumed with the computer issue.  There was Windows 3.1.  Before I had that down Windows 95 came along and it was as if the atom had been split again.  I doubled my efforts there and learned it before Windows 98 was born.  Then I took the plunge and dropped a wad of cash on a computer which was out of date before the ink was dry on the receipt.  There’s the rub.  You invest so much in a computer that you aren’t ready to toss it aside whenever a new version comes along and so once again technology passes downstream.  I saw Windows 2000 and Millennium go by.  Then my computer died as it turns out they like to do.  They seem to have the life span of a Kim Kardashian marriage.  I bought an XP.  Then I had to change how I did some things before it broke and I had to buy the dreaded Windows Vista.  That system changed all the rules.  It took years to learn and master.  I watched Windows 7 pass by like that beautiful young girl you knew in school but were never brave enough to ask out.  Instead I waited until the evil Vista turned on me and I had no choice but to get out and save what little data I could.  I found myself washed up on the shore staring at the monster that was Windows 8.1 and had no choice but to submit.  Now I am trying to catch up once again as I am sure technology is floating some other beast my way.  It’s tempting to hold on to a hand full of the technology river.  But when it leaks away and you go back for more, the science has changed and it is hard to get your hands around, much less you mind.