Number 201 - February 2000

Terminology And The Times
by by Joe Sherry, NOCCC - November 1999
Having somewhat retired in 1980 at age 57, my world of high finance, marketing and engineering were put behind me--the next six years were spent completely away from the business & "outside" world as what might be termed a 24-hour "volunteer", living off my savings.     When my savings were gone and the 24-hour part of my volunteerism was no longer applicable, it was time to return to the work-a-day world of business in order to feed myself. A good friend was now president of a company which custom designed ASICs ("integrated circuits") on contract and needed my venture capital experience. He hired me as Vice President of Finance and drew me back into an office atmosphere.     But there was a surprise in store for me. Do you remember what took place in the early 1980s? That's right-- the desktop computer revolution! Part of my first three weeks were spent trying to find the switch to turn the darned thing on (remember--recessed towards the rear?).     The problem was that it was prudent to admit my ignorance of desktop PCs. With a background as an EE associated with analog electronics, "gigantic" computer hardware and "old" terminology, there was only a smattering of digital electronics in remote sections of my mind.     The hardest part was dealing with the new industry terminology. These young engineers were flinging around words that had no meaning to me. This included the new world of "soft-ware"? My recent previous experience was middle management in Marketing and Finance! Yes, 1980 to 1986 was truly a revolutionary time as it appeared to me at the end of 1986.     During my third week there, one of the consulting design engineers had stopped in for a meeting with the president. As he waited, I queried him about the "application programs" (a new word-set for me) that were in this desktop. "Can you show me?"     With notebook and pen in hand, I wrote down everything he said as he sat down, and everything he did, and every "keystroke" (new word!) he made. Of course this was done behind his back so he wouldn't know I didn't know squat about what he was talking about!! My first glimmer of hope was when he reached around the right side rear and flipped the power switch. "voila" the screen lit up!     Then he brought up something called "1-2-3". Hey! A spreadsheet. How did you get into the "command line" (new words), I asked?     Continuing to write down every keystroke, my comfort level began to increase. Before long, understanding "soft-ware" and "hardware" started to blend	After about 15 minutes, the engineer left for his meeting and yours truly dove in. In less than a half-hour the company financials were entered on a Lotus Spreadsheet (new word combination) and my comfort-level was heading through the roof.     The next two months were spent "messing around" with this new "toy". getting as familiar with the various programs as possible, without letting anyone in the company know of my PC-ignorance! The terminology began to fit!     So much for the software; now for my hardware problems. On Friday afternoon of the fifth week I "crashed the hard drive" (new word set)!     Waiting late until everyone had left, I loaded the whole shebang into my car and headed for a weekend at home learning how to "recover the hard drive" (new phrase).     With the help of a few library books and my "engineering mind" (?), by Sunday afternoon the hard drive was back up with everything accessible as before. This was when it became evident that there was a separate "partition" (new word) with a Xenix operating system (new phrase) and an obviously very expensive Integrated Circuit Engineering Design software program on it.     Holy Moly!! The company's whole future was in my un-knowledgeable hands; so, at 10 p.m. on that Sunday evening the computer was back on its desk as if nothing had happened.     As time went by, my knowledge of the terminology of this new language increased. Finally it dawned on me. Most of the knowledge itself was not new to me, only the words were. What I already knew as a few sentences or a phrase or a thought, now had a single word assigned to it!!     This was the reverse of one of my theories, i.e., all one needs in order to sound knowledgeable in any area of specialty is to learn the language of that specialty. Here was what appeared to be a new specialty area that was simply a new language of a specialty area that was already familiar to me.     Now I could relax; no longer feeling like the backward member of management. But here is my point. The "computer industry" overall seems to continuously create new terminology. Each segment of the industry creates its own language now, and as a new piece of hardware or a new software technology appears, it carries its own new words into the arena.     Not to worry!! Don't feel dumb if you don't keep up. Eventually you'll realize these new words merely are being used to communicate something that is probably already familiar to you.     Copyright 1999 JSherry
Number 201 - February 2000