Teching Order

To understand where technology is today and find out whereit's going in the future, we have to first listen to BarbraStreisand and look at "the way we were." Flash back to1977: Fax machines and land-line phones were the cutting edge ofbusiness hardware. The Apple II computer was introduced the monthbefore the launch of this magazine. With 64K of memory and a 1 MHzprocessor, it heralded the beginning of the PC era. Kay Kienast,Internet veteran and vice president of marketing with advancednetworking start-up Solid Technologies, remembers it well:"People thought 'This will never last.'"

The road from the Apple II to today's Internet-cruising,flat-screen 2 GHz business PC is paved with innovations andmilestones. In 1981, with Apple and Tandy ruling the market, IBMreleased the 5150 PC, which sported a 4.77 MHz Intel processor.Mike Ravagnani, director of technology consulting firm RevolutionSoftware in Worthington, Ohio, says, "The first IBM PC reallymade businesses sit up and listen. Before that, it was allkids' toys and research." Then came Microsoft, and therevolution was really moving.