The Rate of Development of Computer Technology - Case Study Example

May 13, 2007 Purchasing your Computer System – how soon until your system is out d? Rapid Development of Hardware The rate of development of computer technology is so fast that it becomes very difficult to keep pace with it. Let us a take a look at the development of the Intel microprocessor. The first microprocessor, the Intel 4004 was introduced in 1971. It powered the fist portable electronic computers. The first microprocessor to be used in Personal Computers (PCs) was the Intel 8080, introduced in 1979, and introduced into the IBM PC in 1981. It had 6,000 transistors, a clock speed of 2 MHz and an 8-bit architecture or data width. Going through an unabated development process that produced the Intel 8088 in 1979, the 80286 or simply 286 in 1982, the 386 in 1985, Intel came up with the 486 in 1989. The 486 was made up of 1,200,000 transistors, had a clock speed of 25 MHz and a 32-bit architecture. By 1993, the Pentium had a clock speed of 60 MHz, a 64-bit bus and was made up of 3,100,000 transistors. Introduced in 1997, the Pentium II had a clock speed of 233 MHz and was made up of 7,500,000 transistors. In 1999 the Pentium III had a clock speed of 450 MHz and was made up of 9,500,000 transistors. The Pentium IV, introduced in 2000, had a clock speed of 1.5 GHz and was made up of 42,000,000 transistors. The Pentium IV reached a speed of 2.4 GHz by April 2002 and comprised 55 million transistors. The pace picked up even more since then. The mobile Pentium 4M achieved a clock speed of 2.6 GHz by June 2003. The Pentium D series of microprocessors had reached clock speeds of 3.6 GHz with 376 million transistors by January, 2006. Things were almost moving in a blur. By May 2006, the Dual Core Xeon 5000 series processors clocked speed at 3.74 GHz. Currently we have the Intel Core 2 processors which have veered away from achieving greater clock speed and instead concentrates more effective usage of clock cycles and power resulting in much greater efficiency. The Intel processors mentioned above are not the only ones that were produced, they have interspersed with many other variants with improvement in various aspects. And it is not Intel alone. There are other major players in the market such as AMD and Cyrix who have produced their own arrays of processors with gradual improvement in performance along their own timelines. It is therefore evident that computer processor technology has changed almost at a monthly frequency. This rapid rate in development of technology applies to all other components of the computer including the display unit or the monitors, the Random Access Memory (RAM), the Hard Disk, the CD Writer, and the Video Card. The monitor saw very fast improvement in resolution and style. The monitor has evolved from the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display technology to the Thin Film Transistor (TFT) Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) version with a fast paced improvement in resolution and style. The RAM has perhaps developed at an even faster rate than the processor going through different technological innovations such as a the Static RAM or SRAM, Non-volatile RAM, Dynamic RAM or DRAM, each of which had many different versions or sub types. Similarly, the hard disk increased in size from a few megabytes to the present terabyte hard disks with simultaneous increase in speed. The rate of development was again spectacular. In 1986, the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) hard disk was standardized, the 2.5 inch 100 MB hard disk was introduced in 1991, by 1999 IBM released the 170 MB and 340 MB microdrives, Serial ATA was introduced in 2003, the Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) technology was introduced in 2005, the first 750 GB hard drive was introduced by Seagate in 2006, in 2007, Hitachi has introduced the first 1 terabyte hard drive. CD writers that used to take more than 12 hours to write a multimedia CD, now does so in a matter of seconds. Video or Graphic cards did not lag behind. The rate of technology development for video cards is well illustrated by the following table: Card Technology Year Text Mode Graphics Mode Colors Memory MDA 1981 80*25 - 1 4 KB CGA 1981 80*25 640*200 16 16 KB HGC 1982 80*25 720*348 1 64 KB EGA 1984 80*25 640*350 16 256 KB IBM 8514 1987 80*25 1024*768 256 - MCGA 1987 80*25 320*200 256 - VGA 1987 720*400 640*480 256 256 KB SVGA 1989 80*25 1024*768 256 2 MB XGA 1990 80*25 1024*768 65,536 1 MB (Wikipedia) In the case of monitors, one has to consider the fact that monitors tend to weaken operationally over a period of time: ‘CRT monitors are rated for approximately 25,000 to 30,000 hours of use. So if your CRT monitor is on for an average of 8 hours a day, it should last roughly 10 years before you notice a drop in its brightness (you can double those figures for flat-panel LCDs)’ (CNet Reviews, 2005) All these developments in computer hardware technology implied that computer systems became capable of handling increasingly complicated tasks, could give progressively better outputs in terms of details and resolution and, most importantly, the increase in speed resulted in a huge increase in performance. The Software Aspect Improvement in hardware technology witnessed a corresponding pace of improvement in software development. Operating Systems, considering Microsoft alone, evolved from the MS-DOS in 1981, through the Windows 3.0 in 1990, Windows 3.1 in 1992, Windows NT 3.1 in 1993, Windows 1995, Windows NT 4.0 in 1996, Windows 98, Windows 98 second edition in 1999, Windows 2000 and Windows ME in 2000, Windows XP in 2001, Windows XP 64-bit edition in 2002, Windows Server 2003, to the latest Windows Vista this year. Microsoft has not been alone in this great development run. It has been followed neck-to-neck by Apple Macintosh, Linux, Solaris and many others. There has been similar advancement in application software. The Microsoft Office suite can be taken as an example. Ten versions of MS Office, each with marked improvements, have been released, starting with the Office 3.0 in 1990 to the Office 2007. Advancement in software technology has always been accompanied by greater requirement of computer hardware performance. In fact, it is very difficult to clearly state which is the horse and which is the cart. In many cases, better hardware has led to better software, but it has been the other way round too – the effort to build better software has necessitated the development of better hardware. The better the software the greater the requirement of computer hardware resources. The system requirements for the home edition of the Windows XP Operating System launched in 2001 were : i. PC with 300 megahertz (MHz) or higher processor clock speed recommended; 233-MHz minimum required;* Intel Pentium/Celeron family, AMD K6/Athlon/Duron family, or compatible processor recommended ii. 128 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher recommended (64 MB minimum supported; may limit performance and some features) iii. 1.5 gigabyte (GB) of available hard disk space. iv. Super VGA (800 × 600) or higher resolution video adapter and monitor (Windows XP website) Comparatively, the system requirements for the Home Basic Windows Vita Operating Software launched this year are: v. 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor vi. 1 GB of system memory vii. 40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space viii. Support for DirectX 9 graphics with: a. WDDM Driver b. 128 MB of graphics memory (minimum) c. Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware d. 32 bits per pixel (Windows Vista Website) The difference in computer resources requirement is obvious. Windows Vista needs much higher system requirements than Windows XP. Now that the rates of development of computer hardware and software over the years have been illustrated, the significance of such development on the obsoleteness of computer systems can be examined. What makes a computer system outdated? What makes a computer system obsolete? Does the introduction of a more efficient or higher performance system or system component make its predecessor obsolete? Yes, it would, if the perspective is an entirely technical one. But technical specifications alone can hardly be the sole indicator of effectiveness as far as the specific user is concerned. The functional relevance of a computer system would obviously be directly linked with its effectiveness for its user. A computer system becomes outdated or obsolete when it can no longer perform the tasks that its user wants it to perform. The requirements of a user can be broadly classified into two categories – basic requirements and specific requirements. General requirements would include the minimum hardware and software resources that a computer need to have to perform basic tasks such as booting, coding, using simple application software like word processors, Internet browsing, printing, etc. with acceptable speed and efficiency. Specific requirements would be performing tasks such as audio and video editing, using high resource requiring software such as animation, graphics and Computer Aided Design (CAD) applications, playing high-end games, online activities, operating as a server, etc. For someone who is using the computer system only for word processing, a Pentium II system could serve the purpose as well as a dual core Pentium IV system. But for someone who is using the system to work on a movie, the PII would be absolute junk. Impact of games One factor that needs special mention is computer games. A majority of home computer users use their PCs to play games. Games can push hardware requirements through the top. In many cases it is computer games that decide whether a system is obsolete or not. It is gone to such an extent that hardware manufacturers are having to enhance their products to meet the requirements of computer games: ‘As game developers strive to offer ever-more sophisticated graphics, theyre steadily pushing up the hardware requirements needed to run their latest products. That means the games wont run--or wont run well--on any machine on the market.’ (Becker David, 2002) Games are rated even above Operating Systems when it comes to system requirements: ‘The software-hardware upgrade cycle is a common phenomenon in the PC industry. Microsofts Windows XP and Apples Mac OS X required many PC owners to upgrade their systems because of the fairly sizable amount of memory and processor speed required to run these operating systems. But game makers are at the head of the trend that pits business interests against artistic goals. Developers and hardcore game players want cutting-edge graphics that cant be achieved on older, low-horsepower PCs.’ (Becker David, 2002) In fact, leading processor manufacturers such as Intel take into consideration the requirements of popular high-end games and adapt their products to them: ‘Intel maintains an extensive list of games that have "issues" with its omnipresent 845G and other chipsets. Problems range from slow video replay to outright crashes, although most can be solved by software patches. Intel spokesman George Alfs said the 845G works well for its intended audience. "The 845G is a mainstream solution thats great for most games and everyday business and home use," he said. "For the latest cutting-edge games, people will probably want to consider a standalone graphics card."’ (Becker David, 2002) Uisng the Net also entails minimum system requirements. Like Operating Systems, every browser has its own set of requirements. The requirements for Internet Explorer 7.0 are listed as: i. Computer with a 233MHz processor or higher (Pentium processor recommended) ii. Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) iii. RAM reuirements a. Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) - 64 MB b. Windows XP Professional x64 Edition - 128 MB c. Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) - 64 MB d. Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 ia64 - 128 MB iv. Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher-resolution monitor with 256 colors Conclusion How soon a computer system becomes outdated or obsolete can therefore be judged from two perspectives – the specific requirements of the user and in comparison to the overall advancement in technology. The trend however is that even though an individual may not be requiring the latest in the market to achieve his computing purpose, there is always the tendency to procure the newest products. Quality and performance satisfaction are very subjective issues. But when it comes to products such as Operating Systems and application software suites such as MS Office the additional features that the manufacturer bundles with the newest launch, increases the functionality of the product to an extent to which the customer is goaded to acquire the product. Market forces, therefore, also affects the functionality of a computer system The present rate of technological advancement of computer hardware and software sets the functional life expectancy of a computer system at about two to three years. After that, the user either goes in for upgrading the system or buying an entirely new system. A computer system becomes obsolete or updated when it stops becoming productive or effective for the user. However, if the user is able to achieve his functional objectives with reasonable speed and efficiency, the computer system remains relevant for the purpose or purposes for which it is being used. Works Cited 1. Becker David. Games push limits of PC hardware. CNET News.com, September 5, 2002, http://news.com.com/Games+push+limits+of+PC+hardware/2100-1040_3-955999.html 2. CNet Reviews. A computer’s life expectancy. 2005. http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10166_7-5543710-1.html 3. Video Cards. Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_cards 4. Windows XP. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/default.mspx 5. Windows Vista. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/homepremium/default.mspx Read More