CHAPTER 1 The World of Computers
IT Competency Critical to Succees in the Information Society The 21st Century Workforce Commission was established by Congress to take a "snapshot" of the information technology workforce around the country. The Commission was charged with studying and recommending to the President and Congress how best to ensure that American workers have the opportunity to prepare for and succeed in the IT jobs of today and tomorrow. To no one's surprise, the commission's extensive research and subsequent report concluded that education in the use of information technology is imperative to solving the current critical high-tech labor shortages. The commission recommends that IT training begin in early childhood and be an ongoing adult learning activity.
Handhelds Upstage PCs At the recent PC Expo in New York, handheld devices stole the show. Today there are 20 personal computers for every handheld computer. However, analysts believe that within five years the number of people using handheld computing devices will jump from 20 million to 1.5 billion. Some believe that the handheld device will be more ubiquitous than the cellular telephone. The handheld device of the future is expected to incorporate the functionality of the cellular phone, the Walkman, the pager, the e-mail client, and much more. The intense interest in handheld PCs at this important exposition and the subsequent predictions tell us something about the evolution of portable computing. Also, the profits of the biggest player in this market, Palm, have almost doubled in the past year.