The number of requests was small, and the dollar amounts weren't huge. Now we know better. PCs have become immensely popular. Computing power continues to be decentralized and dispersed onto the desktop. Budget requests for desktop technology are as large as those for mainframes.
Shelf life shortens at a dizzying rate.
Desktop computers are here to stay-and, unfortunately, so seems the way we buy them. As shown in the accompanying chart from Green's Campus Computing 1994 report, only 20 percent of the colleges and universities in the U.S. report having a plan to deal with technology budgeting for the long term, and this hasn't changed much in five years. Most colleges and universities continue to purchase on an ad hoc basis, paying cash when the funds are available and doing without new technology when they're not. The result of the purchasing paradigm and concurrent budget cuts is all too familiar. Our classrooms are equipped with aging and obsolete equipment.