| Welcome to the personal computing adventure—and it is an adventure. You might be surprised to learn that few people, even the word wizards who write dictionaries and encyclopedias, attempt to define personal computing. It’s one of the phrases we just accept, thinking it has something to do with personal computers (PCs).And, it does. But, personal computing also encompasses PCsoftware, the Internet, and an endless number of activities and applications. Personal computing is more an experience than an activity and is best defined by your imagination and your will to explore.
Because personal computing has its own language and humbling array of capabilities, it has an air of mystique. The primary objective of this book is to clear the air and demystify personal computing. I do this by familiarizing you with its terminology and introducing you to its seemingly endless possibilities. A secondary objective is to set the stage for accelerated learning so that you can keep up with your curiosity as it continues to push your personal computing horizons. Once you get to that point, you had better hold on because personal computing can be quite a ride.
My personal computing adventure began when I purchased my first PC in 1978. By today’s standards itwas a minimal systemwith a couple of now-obsolete eight-inch floppy disks for storage of programs and data, a tiny hard-on-your-eyes black-andwhite monitor, a six-minute-per-page text-only printer, and a very slow processor. For what I paid for that PC, $12,000, I could have purchased a shiny new 1978 BMW. Since then, I’ve upgraded to a new PC every year.My current PC is 100,000 faster than my first one, and what I paid for it would not even buy the onboard computer in a new BMW |
