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Why I produce this electronic newsletter |
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The
world of technology gets ever more complicated.
Terminology changes and the meaning of words change along with the
technology. Threats emerge, some real and some merely theoretical.
It takes an experienced hand to navigate
these constant changes and explain happenings in the world of tech in a
way both comprehensible and enlightening, and hopefully entertaining
enough to maintain interest. Ben Franklin said, "Either write
something worth reading or do something worth writing.” I try to do both
with the Dispatches From the Front and my work in the field. Not since the introduction of massed produced automobiles has a machine become so entwined into the lives of everyday people as has the computer. And like the automobile, it has been and continues to be, a bumpy road to full adoption of the technology. My perspectives on issues concerning IT come from a unique vantage point. I have been a cog in the industrial wheel of delivering new technology to consumers since the 1970s. From the hifi boom of the 1970s; to consumer video in the early 1980s; to computers beginning in the mid-1980s to today, people have sought my help in getting, maintaining, and managing new technology. What you get from my blog is not anyone's marketing spiel, or industry "insider" propaganda. What my newsletters present is my take on current issues in IT from the perspective of an experienced professional working at the ground level — or, as I liked to say back when mice had rubber balls, "I work where the rubber meets the mouse pad." What makes computer technology unique among all of our other machines is the very real fact that our computers are the only appliances we have ever brought into our homes and businesses that can be broken into and made into nothing more than bricks and boat anchors by miscreants half way around the world or in the next town. I have witnessed, too, first hand how malware causes not only damage to one's machinery, but like a virtual car wreck, malware can also cause real damage to one's real life. Indeed, any computer user can become collateral damage in what can only be described as on ongoing war with what can now be only called cyberterrorists. This is a recurring theme in the Dispatches From the Front. One area I increasingly focus on is how computer technology is changing our culture. Not from an entertainment point of view, but from a historian's viewpoint. I try to employ The Serenity Prayer from Alcoholics Anonymous in both my approach to the material and information I present in my blogs. Although I don't proscribe to any 12 step program, I will take true wisdom from wherever it comes. The wise words that guide are: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, The courage to change the things I can, And the wisdom to know the difference. In IT, a temporary workaround is sometimes the only solution to a problem. Sometimes what seems like a problem is really a new opportunity to do something worthwhile. And often a perceived problem is based upon something that is not true, and therefore not a problem at all. This is the wheat I try to separate from the chafe. And "the wisdom to know the difference" part, in any field, only comes from years of experience. Ask any home run hitter in Triple-A ball facing Big League pitching for the first time. If you find value in this blog, then please visit my GoFundMe page and make contribution. |
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