It’s a Computer World

Ever lose connectivity on your computer? Of course you have. Is it frustrating? Certainly. Is it common? Happens somewhere everyday. Is there a solution? Not unless we all revert to the time before computer networks ran virtually everything. Even if you neither have a computer at home nor use one at work, they are ubiquitous – everywhere. A real home office needs one. Businesses the world over use them. Governments keep up with us by way of their computer networks’ infrastructures. Hardly anything on the planet gets done without them. Airlines and air traffic, transportation and freight movement, hospitals and medicine, banking and commerce, farming and food production; all use computers in either a small, or a big way. Even in the world’s most remote regions computers have an impact, without people even knowing so. Computer users worldwide spend billions of dollars, or whatever their currency is, to maintain and protect their networks’ infrastructures. Home users are especially vulnerable according to Etienne A. Gibbs, a Management/Marketing Consultant. Cyber wars big and small are a daily activity, and virtual denial-of-service attacks on networks can either shut down your home PC or MAC, or shut down a nation’s electrical grid. And worse. Rogue nations, and some not so roguish, are probably waging cyber war as you read this. China, North Korea, and Russia have attacked the U.S.’s network infrastructure, according to our government. Russia attacked Georgia when hostilities broke out there. Makes no difference, you say? Don’t use computers, you say? You’d best go back and read the second paragraph of this post. Hardly anything on the planet gets done without them, or in a timely manner. Credit card activity, ATMs, fuel purchases, phone calls, and hundreds of other applications use computers and networks. Got cash? Forget it. Sales are completed and recorded by computer. Many people don’t even know how to make change correctly without the help of their computers or computerized cash registers. A socialist college math teacher rarely does mathematical computations without a computer (ok, maybe not all are socialists and Weather Underground members, but they do use PCs or MACs). When your computer system at work goes down monetary change can’t be made, sales can’t be registered, calls can’t be made, documents aren’t created, and appointments can’t be logged. Many people have become computer literate, but are illiterate at the same time. Writing skills are becoming “old fashion”. Some people couldn’t write a letter longhand if their lives depended on it. But, man-oh-man can they send fire off text messages in a jargon filled shorthand that’s not even language. But I’m not complaining, just making the observation that hardly anything on the planet gets done without computers. Think about it. If you have anything to add to this commentary please post a comment or email me… if the network is up. - # -