RAM keeps the processing electronic rather than mechanical. Software improves the human interface, and mostly gets better by building on the previous design. Note that disk storage itself has grown at a rate of 4x per year for equal cost. Communications Communications are at the core of what make computers run. It's also one of the primary benefits of the technology.
Computers use the binary system to communicate.
Since the communication rates have exceeded the bandwidth required for voice, video, and other classically analog communication there is a continuing shift from analog to digital. With the shift come many side benefits. It doesn't replace the handshake, but does much more than voice alone. Mobile computing enables a person to have an office on the road. Encryption technology is controversial because it allows fully secure communications.