“Information development must be spearheaded by a general, not coordinated by aides-de-camp.”

Peter G. W. Keen 1981 1

Precise prediction is very difficult.  Long ago, when FORTRAN and COBOL were still the new kids on the block, Ware wrote a science-fiction short story called “The Last Programmer.” That estimable gentleman had become the “last programmer” at his research institution and was being retired early with a gold watch.  The retirement time was set for 1984, a then-future date popularized by George Orwell’s 1949 novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four.  The assumption was that by 1984 the scientists and engineers would be working directly with the computers.&