Take a trip back in time to 1993. Bill Clinton was the newly inaugurated president of the United States. At that time, there were approximately sixty thousand web sites on the internet, no measly feat. Computers were stocked with floppy drives and top-of-the-market machines had CD-ROM bays too. Mobile phones were in their infancy. Nokia branded phones had massive aerials and they were huge. The carriers Optus and Telecom (named so at the time) covered very little of outback Australia [there still exists an outcry from the ?bush? today regarding the coverage of the major mobile players, but that is a totally different issue- Ed.] What does all of the above have to do with the English language? Very little, on the outset. As always though, there are two sides to every story, and there is more than meets the eye.
Today, September 2002, the world wide web contains a gigantic seventy five million sites and a gargantuan two billion pages.
English: 2.88 MB floppy disk drive
English: 1.2 MB floppy disk drive
5.25" floppy disk drivePC?s come standard (almost) with CD burners and DVD ROM?s. The floppy disk is being phased out, replaced by slick LS 240 drives. Cinema type surround sound in the home is a reality and real time gaming is already around. Mobile phones have email features on them, as well as internet. They are miniature as well, expending no more than about twenty square centimeters in area. Ziggy Switkowski (CEO Telstra Corp.) boasts a ninety nine per cent coverage rate of Australia. Optus, Vodafone and B are making entries into the market, all claiming to be the leader in technology of the present and future. Surely this second paragraph seems more razzle-dazzle than the first. It shows how far technology has come in ten years. It also reflects the pace at which the technology industry is moving. The question...