Beyond 2000

The new millenium began with great hopes, particularly for the Web and multimedia “dot-coms”. By 2005 the computing industry in many ways was stronger than ever. On the Web, new software approaches are changing the way services and even applications are delivered. The integration of search engines, mapping, local content, and user participation is changing the relationship between companies and their customers.

Moore’s law is now expressed not through faster single processors, but using processors with two, four, or more processing “cores, ” challenging software designers. Mobile computing is one of the strongest areas of growth, with devices combining voice phone, text messaging, e-mail, and Web browsing.

Computer hardware has evolved from big and bulky to compact and efficient. The monitor, for example, progressed from the large beige cathode ray tube, or CRT, monitors of the 1990s to slimmer, widescreen liquid crystal display, or LCD, monitors that surpassed the sales of CRT monitors starting in 2007. Toward the end of the first decade of the 21st century, developments in computer technology supported dual monitors and 3D LCD monitors. The first optical mouse also began replacing the trackball mouse at the beginning of the century. Essentially, developments in hardware design have increased the accessibility and ease of use of computers.

On the first day of 2001, Microsoft announced that Windows 95, its first operating system that was a commercial success, became a legacy item and the company would no longer sell it. This propelled the production of the later Windows operating systems that control almost 90 percent of the entire market share. Apple, however, has made its way back into the market, not as much because of its easy-to-use operating systems as because of its line of multimedia devices, starting with the iPod in 2000, the iPhone in 2007 and the iPad in 2010. However, both software giants face an emerging trend toward the use of freeware, as free software such as Adobe Reader and OpenOffice becomes increasingly available.

Although the start of the decade saw Internet users keying numbers into a dial-up modem to gain access, by the end of the decade most households had high-speed, broadband Internet, and the rise of Wi-Fi has made wireless Internet access possible through desktop computers, laptops and mobile phones. Social networking became prevalent on the Internet by storm in the first decade.

The industry continues to face formidable challenges ranging from mitigating environmental impact to the shifting of manufacturing and even software development to rapidly growing countries such as India and China.