As computers become quicker, it is less important to have slowpoke processes executing in the background. But the onset of fast and easy telecommunications could make multitasking a common practice. Imagine instructing your machine to query several remote computers as a background process, for example, without depriving you of the use of keyboard and screen. The magic of working with personal computers is that even as they isolate us one from another, they bring us closer together as fellow travelers exploring a strange and magical land. PC users are forever sharing secrets, data, and software.
Romance remains a distinct possibility as well.
The fact is, like it or not, the PC is becoming a focus of everyday life. It is destined to be more pervasive than either the automobile or the television. It is the indispensable engine of growth and change and shared experience that will carry us into the next century and beyond. Ten years ago the lights flickered, and I watched as 90 kilobytes of information became electrons and danced down a wire. Today the lights wink, and I watch again as half a million pulses per second create an inaudible howl within a delicate ribbon cable.