Computer Services: Comparison of Computers Then and Now

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WHO HAS ACCESS TO PERSONAL COMPUTERS?

As we study the history of how personal computers arrived and were placed in most organizations, we can see a pattern emerging that is more reflective of political considerations than anything else.

Personal computers are more likely to be given to managers and executives before others receive them in any great number. Sometimes this is part of an overall strategy designed to win n1iIlagement approval before bringing computers into an organization. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, many systems arrive because they are seen as nothing more than the latest management status symbol. Statistics collected by International Data Corporation suggest that only about 15 percent of these placements are accompanied by training. For most of these recipients, the hardware is delivered and set up, and users are provided with one or more software packages. After that, they’re on their own. Those who do get training generally experience it in the form of a one-day seminar conducted by an outside consultant. Left to their own devices, and hampered by work schedules, it is estimated that less than 10 percent of all managers and executives who initially are given a personal computer ever really use it themselves. This raises an important point: The people given personal computers today are not always the people who will use them tomorrow. A lot of the personal computers originally placed with managers or executives are finding their way rather quickly to the desks of secretaries or subordinates as Figure 2 illustrates. It is these people, by and large, who are being given the responsibility for developing and maintaining applications and programs. This is not to say that managers and executives shouldn’t be given personal computers. There is no question that one of the best ways to introduce new ideas and tools to a workplace is by gaining the understanding and commitment of those at the very top. The problem is that while managers and executives need access to the type of information that personal computers can provide, they don’t necessarily need to be developing that information themselves. Most simply don’t have the time to invest in learning everything about a particular software package and in developing their own programs. These are all things that can easily be delegated to lower ranking staff. Managers will most likely use computers primarily to review, manipulate, and compare information, examine what-if situations, prepare budgets, reports, and forecasts, make projections, and communicate with others. All the programs and information needed to perform these tasks will probably be worked on by those who report to the managers. If we are to believe predictions that there will be a personal computer on the desk of every manager and white-collar professional by the mid-1990s, then we can expect to see the number of new users grow significantly in the coming years. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the white-collar work force will expand from 50.8 million to 62 million by the end of the decade. This translates into some 13 million managerial and 19 million professional positions. These people will not he the only ones working with personal computers. Many systems will be placed with secretaries or clerical staff, and their numbers are forecast to swell to 22 million. Not all of these individuals will work with personal computers, of course, but the demographics suggest that there will be any number of different audiences requiring different types of training and support. The number of personal computers placed in organizations in the United States today doesn’t indicate the number of people working on them or trying to learn about them. A study conducted by the market research firm Future Computing and reported in their 1985 Survey of Personal Computers in Business revealed that a quarter of all personal computers in businesses are shared by as many as 10 employees. Projections from several research studies indicate that as more systems are purchased, this ratio will drop. Still, by 1990, over 40 percent of all personal computers used in business are expected to be shared by at least two or more employees. The training implications of these numbers alone are staggering, and suggest that many organizations will be dealing with significant backlogs of people who will be waiting for personal computer education. In the meantime, a lot of employees will be left to train themselves. The progression of personal computers into organizations has been described this way: “They are arriving in waves. The first wave belonged to the explorers. The people who were curious to see what they were. The tinkerers and experimenters. The second wave are the pioneers. These are the people who want r need to find out how they can make personal computers function, and how to make them productive. The third wave, which is about to reach most organizations, is composed of people who don’t have any choice in the matter. They must learn how to use computers. These are the people who will require all the time and effort.”

WHAT ARE PERSONAL COMPUTERS USED FOR IN THE WORKPLACE?

Despite all the advertising showing personal computers performing a multitude of tasks, most systems operating in businesses in the mid-1980s will not approach their full potential. It is estimated that up to 60 percent of all people who use a personal computer on the job work with only one or two specific applications. For the overwhelming majority this means a spreadsheet and word processing.There are a multitude of software packages to be found in most organizations, but people aren’t making full use of all the functions available to them. User experts, or gurus, who can make their systems all but dance across a desk and who push their programs to the absolute limits, can be found just about any place that uses computers. In most jobs, however, the role of the personal computer is limited by a lack of knowledge and experience as to exactly what to do with it. Most companies simply don’t have, or at least haven’t committed, the resources needed to support more than a few standard selections. In addition to the spreadsheet and word processing functions already mentioned, the standard choices usually include some form of data management program. Spreadsheets are far and away the most used programs run on personal computers. This is particularly true among managers who have accessed to a personal computer, and who have come to see the spreadsheet as having as almost magical qualities. When many people becoming talk about becoming computer literate, they really are thinking about learning how to use a spreadsheet. In— deed, most formal training found in business or industry is built not around the capabilities of the technology, hut around teaching people about spreadsheets. Arthur Young, a consulting firm, conducted a survey in 1984 of 453 companies that use personal computers. The survey which was reported in the July 1984 edition of Data Training Newspaper found that training in using personal computers ranked far below using specific software packages. Only 25 percent of the companies surveyed offered training of any kind. Of these, 80 percent trained users on spreadsheets and 49 percent included word processing.One major corporation that claims to have trained over 4000 of its employees on personal computers admits to a curriculum consisting solely of three hour courses in the use of spreadsheets. Given these statistics it’s not difficult to find individuals who believe that personal computers exist solely to run spreadsheets, or serve as very fancy typewriters. There are other reasons for the spreadsheet’s dominance. Statistics show the banking, accounting, and insurance industries are the leaders in acquiring personal computers. Most office workers can perform at least one part of their job on a spreadsheet. Many of the nation’s business schools have added spreadsheet preparation and analysis to their curriculums. Therefore, it is easy for people to relate to the spreadsheet concept during product demonstrations.

Most of the work done on personal computers is financial in nature. Among the most popular uses are:

Budgeting

Financial analysis

Cash flow management

Employee records

Mailing lists

Report writing

Presentation graphics

Inventories

Production scheduling

Economic projections

Accounts payable and receivable

Despite the best efforts of promoters to portray them as total business solutions, most personal computers remain single-purpose tools limited primarily to being report machines.

PEOPLE’S EXPECTATIONS ON COMPUTER KNOWLEDGE

We are a society of images. Our standards and expectations are often shaped by the way we visualize things. Our primary sources for the way we see our world (or at least would like to see it) are found in commercial advertising. For good or bad, much of what many people know about personal computers is based entirely on what they see in 60-second television spots or in the product displays found in newspapers or magazines. Advertising is designed to catch one’s attention and spark the public’s imagination. Manufacturers want people to know that personal computers are more than toys, so they tend to picture them doing some fairly sophisticated things. More than that, they tend to show them as the tools of successful people. It wasn’t always that way, of course. Many people had their first taste of the technology through home systems that did little more than play Pong or other arcade games. Those early systems were quick to evolve, however, into more powerful tools and the advertising shifted away from entertainment towards business. This became increasingly true as more personal computer corn- panics entered the marketplace and competition quickly turned into battles for survival. A company’s success required the type of volume i1hS that can only come from business, industry, and government .As advertising changed to reflect the needs of these constituencies, it also began to 1itled the expectations people had about personal computers and what they can do. What advertising how k end results. The commercials picture young executives sitting down at their desks, turning on and getting instant information. Advertisements picture screens with full-color graphs and charts, or leave the impression that the heroes of today’s offices are the ones who can produce instant analysis. The tramp skates through to success simply by putting a personal computer on his desk.What the advertising doesn’t show is all the time and effort it can take to get a personal computer to do everything shown. Audiences are often left with the impression that personal computers are not only easy to figure out, but that they will arrive ready to do whatever is asked of them. Many companies expect the same things, and it isn’t unusual to find organizations where little time has been planned or allocated for getting people started on working with the technology. As people saw personal computers being placed with managers and executives first, another expectation developed. Success is equated with having a personal computer, or at least having access to one. Computers aren’t thought of as tools to improve productivity, but rather as vehicles to enhance careers. This carries the status symbol quality one step further. Some workers, perhaps fearful of future obsolescence, are also developing the expectation that they have a right to be trained on the technology whether or not they are currently using it. Part of this fear is being fueled by advertising and educational programs that emphasize personal computer training for children as young as toddlers. These two groups represent the opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to offering training programs. On one hand, those looking for career mobility will want access to new programs that may enhance their own marketability. They will press for training in the latest or most innovative software, and will be the first to ask for demonstrations. They stay current by reading various trade publications, watching advertisements for the latest product announcements, and by listening to any number of office or personal computer user grapevines. Spurred on by their various sources of information, they often ask for training or access to so-called vaporware products, which have been publicly announced or given a product evaluation or review by a publication, but which are not yet available for sale.It is from this group that the user expert, or cocky novice (someone who knows just enough to be dangerous), will come. As a group they will tend to see personal computers as a means to a particular end, and will strike out more on their own to explore various packages and programs. Often they will be looking more for the “flash” effect a program may provide than for its added productivity value. The second group tends to view personal computers as an inevitable fact of life. They will need more basic information and will he less likely to go off exploring on their own. Many will be from the ranks of older workers and some will harbor a genuine fear of computers. They will learn what they feel they need to know in order to keep up with younger employees, and will press for training that is more related to the job they are currently performing. It is this group that will view personal computer training as something they have an inherent right to learn, and will often plead to be allowed into introductory classes.Whichever the group, there will be ample sources of motivation for wanting to learn about personal computers, as well as a wide divergence of expectations about how quickly that can be accomplished, and what that will mean back on the job.

computer operating systems Can Microsoft make Windows 8 the mobile OS?

Thats why Microsoft is trying to leverage its Windows PC hegemony into markets where rivals have jumped ahead. The company needs to show that the next version of Windows can provide that Web access on a variety of devices–everything from traditional PCs to trim ultrabooks to touch-friendly tablets.
With Windows 8 on ARM, for example, Microsoft will offer a slightly different experience for consumers than the one theyll get with tablets running the traditional PC x86 architecture with chips from Intel and AMD. The ARM system-on-a-chip architecture means that devices themselves can be thinner and lighter. But it also means that some legacy applications wont work unless developers port those applications.
Motorola: Come see how slow-witted Siri is! Please?In a bid to unhex the Siri-seduced, Motorola videos purport to show that Apples Siri is the slowest assistant in town.
Microsoft Windows president Stephen Sinofsky introduces a test version of a touch-enabled Windows 8 at Microsoft&39;s Build conference last September.

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