Looking back into the 80’s …

For those of us old enough to remember the 1980s, we know it was a time of big hair, ridiculous fashion and a huge shift in technology. While the fashion of the past can be safely left behind, technology from that period can offer an important perspective on how our industry is evolving today.

Let me set the stage: At the dawn of the 80s, companies mostly relied on a single big hardware—mainframes. They would buy one giant machine and it would serve their needs. They had an IT staff but it was small and manageable. They had some very vanilla applications that did a defined job—no more, no less. In short, life was largely predictable for companies and their IT organizations.

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