I remember my high school days; I was involved in cross-country and track. Conveniently, my coach sold running shoes on the side. Those who ran for him got shoes wholesale. Every time Nike or New Balance came out with a new shoe, he would skillfully flaunt a pair before us. I felt like a marionette, having my strings jerked, but I learned a valuable lesson from him: The newest is not always the best, just the newest.

Maybe we who purchase goods from the computer industry need to learn that lesson, too.

It seems as if the technology train for the computer industry roars steadily by all other industries. No sooner do we get in new computer equipment, than something new in the marketplace makes that equipment obsolete. Since the inception of the AS/400 back in 1988, there have been many refreshes of the equipment, some of which came within as little as 12 months, with the latest move being the introduction of Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) processors and 64-bit processing. In March 1998, I was fortunate enough to be the proud owner of a Model 620 with a comfortable amount of memory and disk. But, with a new refresh of the product line imminent, I find myself wondering, “What’s next?” or, possibly, “What new technology might actually make my or a coworker’s job easier?”

The PC marketplace is even more dynamic. Currently, the top-of-the-line PC has 450-MHz, a 10-GB disk with 128 MB of memory, a 100-MB Zip drive, and a 17-inch monitor. My PC experience goes back 14 years, and I have always expected to see some type of floppy drive on a system. Recently, I saw one that had only a Zip drive—no floppy. I now find myself also wondering what new kind of techno-geeky product or outrageous amount of DASD and memory will come out next? When will I have to throw out (or pass down) my current PC?

Do average computer users really need all of the computing power at their disposal? In questioning what makes this technology train run so fast, do I need to go back to my high school days and my shoe-selling coach? If I do, I’d say that we think we need the latest and greatest (a “need” that provides the fuel that powers this speeding train). Have the IBMs, Gateways, Dells, and Compaqs done that good a job of marketing to this primal

instinct? Have we been doing an equally good job of being sold to? Have these same vendors used planned obsolescence as a marketing ploy?

This rush of technology has put a tremendous strain on IS managers. The shuffling in and around of newer technology becomes virtually an objective for a yearly review. I have been at my current job for almost nine years, and I am now on my fourth AS/400. We have had a B20, C20, Model 300, and, finally, the Model 620. Imagine going to management an average of every two years and asking for another large capital investment. Eventually, this well, too, will run dry, and the financial planners will put the brakes on all of this spending.

In the PC arena, I have averaged almost one machine per year—seven different PCs in all. With all these new machines, the trickle-down effect is definitely at work. Because I run a one-person shop, this shifting about serves to add yet another flag to an already crowded mast: These PCs must all be set up.

Imagine the time and money spent on this shuffle: the planning, the debugging, the conversions, and the “whoopses” after the conversions. Are these changes necessary evils? What can we do to spend our time and money more wisely?

Looking back on this nine-year blitz, I have to wonder if the right decisions were made. Did the time and money spent on new equipment increase the productivity of our employees? Have we kept up with the training dollars to ensure that our employees can maximize our investments? Is it more important to keep up with the latest-and-greatest hardware and show capital on our profit and loss (P & L) statements or to train employees to be productive (when this does not necessarily show on the P & L)?

Considering that most computer equipment is obsolete in a couple of years, are we really investing the company’s resources wisely by moving so rapidly? Can a user with a “new” machine function equally as well as a user with an “old” machine?

Stop the computer; I want to get off! I wonder... If someone picks up this issue of Midrange Computing magazine in 12 to 18 months, where will we be? How outdated will the specifications above be? Where will the marketplace be: 1-GHz processors, 100-GB hard drives, 1-GB Zip drives, 1 GB of memory?

A computer executive and an automotive executive are meeting over lunch. The computer executive says, “If the automotive industry had kept up with the computer industry, we could be buying faster and more efficient cars for under $100.” And the automotive executive replies, “Yes, but do you really want them to crash twice a day?”

Let’s close by remembering the famous computer quote made by Bill Gates in 1981: “640k ought to be enough for anyone.”