I have been on much the same journey as OP and I agree on everything he writes. And even though the author tries to avoid sounding grumpy, you can still feel the sadness in between the lines - a sadness I don't share. Sure, I have gone from being inspired by the pure love of everything computer and a bottomless curiosity, to maintaining legacy systems for large corporations just to feed the kids. The internet is ruined by greed and control, most software is a total mess and having a 10 million times faster computer seemingly just makes the OS less responsive. Schools, not teaching how a computer works, but how to be productive in Microsoft Office. It's a long list.
Back in the eighties, how I looked at the future of computers, was mostly fuelled by sci-fi books and movies. Computers that could talk, that could think and even go insane - it was all too wonderful. All just fantasies. But now we are here. What we could only imagine back then has become a reality, and I kind of do feel the same curiosity and the same love for this new thing. Sure, it came with a couple of surprises like; you can't really program it, you just have to beg it. Or the fact that we now have a completely new genre of utility bills at the household. Still, it is magical - the same kind of magic I felt way back then.
So in one way, I feel that I have come full circle - except for one thing. One thing is different. Back then, there were just a few of us. I was almost nervous about letting anyone know what I really spent the afternoons doing, afraid that it would single me out - and not in a good way. Today, on the other hand, it is all of us.
Back in the eighties, how I looked at the future of computers, was mostly fuelled by sci-fi books and movies. Computers that could talk, that could think and even go insane - it was all too wonderful. All just fantasies. But now we are here. What we could only imagine back then has become a reality, and I kind of do feel the same curiosity and the same love for this new thing. Sure, it came with a couple of surprises like; you can't really program it, you just have to beg it. Or the fact that we now have a completely new genre of utility bills at the household. Still, it is magical - the same kind of magic I felt way back then.
So in one way, I feel that I have come full circle - except for one thing. One thing is different. Back then, there were just a few of us. I was almost nervous about letting anyone know what I really spent the afternoons doing, afraid that it would single me out - and not in a good way. Today, on the other hand, it is all of us.