IT DRILLDOWN
 
NEWSLETTERS
 

CIO.com updates, insights and advice on technology, management and your career.

 
 
 
SUBSCRIBE TO CIO
 
Are you involved in setting the direction for your company's IT budget or strategy?

Apply today for a FREE subscription to CIO Magazine!

 

 


Fri, Jan 25, 2008 13:51 EST

Retro Geek Chic, Cool Tech Du Jour: 1998 vs. Now

Topic: Applications

Blog: Information Collective

Current Rating: 5 Comment: 1

The late '90s was groundbreaking time for technology. But my, how far tech has come.

Geek Chic from the '90s

The velocity of change is exponentially increasing, as a 10-year look back makes crystal clear. In researching the late '90s for CIO.com’s new slideshow on hot tech from a decade ago, what is striking is how much tech creativity was going on at the time. Of course, there’s also a cringe factor…like memories of waiting for dial-up or what passed for cool then.

We couldn’t include everything in the slideshow of course, so here are a few more thoughts on 1998 specifically:

  • A new “file-squishing technology,” MP3 technology, was arguably the fastest growing phenomenon of the time. It enabled  people to transfer music from a CD, record or tape; compress the sound into a digital file; and then ship the file over the Internet for others to download, uncompress and then listen to the music. Music-lovers rejoiced in 1998 when the first MP3 players debuted. Record execs and plenty of musicians, however, saw the MP3 player primarily as a facilitator of music piracy, and soon one of the first MP3 players, the Diamond Rio, faced a slew of legal issues.
  • The Palm Pilot was the king of PDAs, but the BlackBerry 850 Wireless Handheld debuted, bringing new ease to e-mail, wireless data networks, the handheld, the QWERTY keyboard, and giving corporate America insight into the possibilities of wireless communications.
  • Businesses and tech analysts were debating whether upgrading to Windows 98 was worth the cost. (Sound familiar?)
  • In the day before “google” was a verb, Yahoo!, Excite, Lycos. and Infoseek stocks skyrocketed. And the search engine that searched other search engines, Dogpile was a favorite of many Web surfers. Then in late 1998, Stanford students Larry Page and Sergey Brin co-founded Google. The new search engine was incorporated as a privately held company on September 7 that year. And you know what came after that.

It’s striking how many important tech events occurred around 1998, and ten years later school, business and social life has been transformed to include technology as an integral part of everday life. 

What strikes you about the differences between then and now?

You do not have flash or javascript support.
Average (3 votes)
5
 
 
Tue, Jan 29, 2008 9:17 EST
Anonymous user
Posted by: Anonymous
Rating:

I think the biggest technical improvement hasn't been the digital side - which simply followed on the same decreasing size/increasing content as previous decades. What makes today's toys possible is the improvement in battery technology.

About this Blog

Tips, hints, and interesting tidbits for information technology professionals as collected by the editorial staff of CIO.

Start a Conversation
Click to post

Got something to say? We want to hear it! Click the Post button to get started. GO»

EXPERT ADVICE
See our roster of experts.

Advice & Opinion from more than 90 of IT's most insightful thinkers.

advertisement

TOP USERS
UserPoints
1. laith al jazi12550
2. Akshay Upadhye7650
3. Chris Moore6750
4. abdhiraj6175
5. remi5525
UserPoints
6. Mark Cummuta4950
7. Brian Flora4925
8. Al Sacco4700
9. asengupta3750
10. reCareered3700
  PARTNERS       PODCASTS       WEBCASTS    
 

Enterprise Content Management: From Strategy to Solution

Enterprise content management (ECM) has become an important competence and infrastructural technology, particularly for large and medium-sized organizations. Hear about industry trends for ECM and why standardizing your ECM platform is so critical to your success during this roundtable discussion.

Sponsored by IBM  View This Webcast »

 

The CIO's Guide to Wireless in the Enterprise

This guide provides a basic overview and worksheet of mobile computing for those who are interested in evaluating a wireless enterprise solution.

Sponsored by Blackberry
  Read This White Paper »

 

The Universal Wireless Client

Learn how replacing multiple wireless clients with one Universal Wireless Client can cut support and help desk costs, increase end user satisfaction, improve security, and help implement Network Access Control.

Sponsored by Fiberlink  Read this White Paper »

Resource Alerts

Get instant email notifications by topic when white papers, webcasts, and case studies are added to our library.

NAC launch from HP Procurve Podcast with Lippis Report, Part 1

ProCurve Networking by HP joins the Lippis Report to announce major product and organizational additions to their ProActive Defense strategy.  Read More »

 

Accenture's View on Web 2.0 and its impact on business

Publisher at CIO magazine, Bob Melk, talks to Accenture's Blair Jones about the emergence of Web 2.0...  Read More »

 

A Best-Practice Framework for Virtualization

This podcast offers insights and perspective on the various issues that relate to virtualization...  Read More »

Resource Alerts

Get instant email notification when white papers, webcasts, and case studies are added to our library. Don't just be up-to-date—be up to the minute with our new Resource Alerts.

Forrester builds a case for the next generation information workplace.

As businesses seek new ways to enhance collaboration and improve productivity, the information workplace continues to evolve...  Read More »

 

Find out what Forrester says about mobile endpoint security and its management.

Mobility raises productivity. But IT departments are hard-pressed to protect mobile data and to manage security software, wireless clients and regulatory compliance for mobile workers...   Read More »

 

Get Forrester's take on simplifying mobility with the universal wireless client.

Mobile workers want to use all types of wireless networks: WiFi, 3G cellular networks, corporate WLANs and home wireless networks. But how can IT support...  Read More »

Resource Alerts

Get instant email notification when white papers, webcasts, and case studies are added to our library. Don't just be up-to-date—be up to the minute with our new Resource Alerts.

 
NEWSLETTER

Sign-up for the Advice & Opinion Newsletter

 
FEATURED SPONSORS
 
 
 
SPONSORED LINKS
 

SOA Educational Library at the TIBCO SOA Resource Center

TDWI Report shows strong validation for investing in predictive analytics

Cost-Effective Data Center 1U Server Solutions

Secure your virtual and physical environments with the same software

GET YOUR VoIP ONTM! Win 2 Years of Hosted VoIP from Cypress. $100,000 retail value. Enter today!

Stimulating Innovation: Meeting IT's New Mission

The Struggle to Achieve Agility and Reduce Complexity

Maximizing Site Visitor Trust Using Extended Validation SSL

Standalone Server vs. Open Source Toolkits

Drive More Effective Business Processes with SOA

Oracle Database 11g: Real Application Testing & Manageability

InfoWorld Test Center on Oracle Real Application Testing

Oracle Database 11g: Advances in Compression, Real Application Testing and Data Guard

Getting Off on the Right Foot: Avoiding Common Master Data Management False Starts

Conquering Information Management Challenges

The Challenge of Network Access Control -- Is a Managed Service the Answer?

Efficient by design: Watch this flash demo of the Quad-Core AMD Opteron Processor

HP and Oracle deploy unbreakable computing infrastructure at Replacements, Ltd.

The Universal Wireless Client: Simplify mobility and reduce the cost of supporting mobile workers

Strategic IT Financial Management - Achieve Higher Organizational Performance

Strategies for Asia-Pacific Expansion

Unified Communications: "More Than Just Talk"

Accelerating ITIL at the Service Desk

New research validates telepresence solutions.

The Gartner Magic Quadrant

Video: 21st Century Networking for a 12th Century Castle

Speed, agility, flexibility - The HP BladeSystem c-Class

Learn about the software-based VoIP solution from Microsoft

Microsoft System Center - Designed For Big

Protecting Data in a Highly Networked World

Consolidation: Just the Starting Point for Virtualization

How the Mac is Becoming an IT Standard in the Enterprise

Storage Efficiency: The Key to Green Storage Operation

Fuel the Responsive Enterprise Through Oracle Fusion Middleware

Balance Your Innovation and Efficiency Platforms for Competitive Advantage and Responsiveness

Oracle Real Application Testing with Oracle Database 11g

InfoWorld Test Center on Oracle Active Data Guard

Master Data Management: The Approach Determines the Results

The Power of Pervasive Business Intelligence

Reap the Benefits of Unified Communications

Controlling High Fraud Risk of International Transactions

Renowned Engineering Institution Chooses AMD Processor-Based Servers

How to Manage the Mobile Work Environment

Extending PCI Compliance to the Mobile Workforce

Solving Online Credit Fraud Using Device Reputation

Process Integration and Traceability through Requirements Management

Virtual Support Technology Delivers Quantifiable Gains in Productivity and Performance

Building Competitive Advantage with Next-Generation Wireless Infrastructure

Building an Online Customer Experience Competency

Skechers, an IBM Customer Case Study