Plus ca change ... where did the last 25 years go?

摘要

Imagine a world without mobile phones, satellite communications, fax machines, PCs and internet, laser printers, colour printers, scanners, and what's more, without GPS to tell you where you are. A world bereft of spreadsheets, Powerpoint and CAD. How would you survive? How would you do your job? Well, we did! This was the world of 1979, the year when International Underwater Systems Design magazine (which became International Ocean Systems) was launched. The basic truth is, of course, that all of those things which we didn't have were not crucial to the ability to apply the latest technology and science to solving the problems with which we were presented. That ability is within the human brain. We made do with dial up telephones, ship to shore radios, telex, the post, handwriting letters and reports for secretaries to type up, typewriters, drawing boards, graph paper and colour pens. In the UK we used 'Red Star' to transport equipment to and from Aberdeen or Great Yarmouth, whereas today there are any number of efficient delivery services.