I started programming Jan 2nd 1980. I've tried to think about significant new inventions over my career. I struggle to think of any. Most of what I consider significant were actually invented prior to 1980 but then weren't widely adopted or improved until after.
- Graphical User Interface.
- Fast processing.
- Large memory (I paid $200.00 for 16k in 1980).
- Small sizes - cell phones, pocket pc's, iPhones, Netbooks.
- Large storage capacities. (I've gone from carrying a large 90k floppy to an 8 gig usb thumb drive.
- Multiple processors. (Almost all my computers have more than one now, software struggles to keep them busy).
- Standard interfaces (like USB) to easily attach hardware peripherals.
- Multiple Touch displays.
- Network connectivity - leading to the mid 90's internet explosion.
- IDE's with Intellisense and incremental compiling.
While the hardware has improved tremendously the software industry has struggled to keep up. We are light years ahead of 1980, but most improvements have been refinements rather than inventions. Since 1980 we have been too busy applying what the advancements let us do rather than inventing. By themselves most of these incremental inventions are not important or powerful, but when you look back over the last 29 years they are quite powerful.
We probably need to embrace the incremental improvements and steer them. I believe that truly original ideas will probably come from people with little exposure to computers and they are becoming harder to find.
