Been There, Done That : ...

If I really knew the future of home computers for the coming year, do you think I’d still be working at a salaried position?

The only thing anyone can say for certain in the home computer field--where the future seems to change about every two weeks--is that there will be more of it. This year, an estimated 6.9 million computers will be sold for home use in the United States, making them second only to color TVs in consumer electronic sales.

Because of the boom, entrepreneurs and other speculators will continue to throw millions of dollars into software, CD-ROMs and on-line services development in hopes of jumping on the bandwagon of the next “Carmen Sandiego,” Flying Toaster screensaver or Mosaic.

One of the areas most primed for growth is on-line services, which have become all the more important now that many home computers come equipped with telephone modems. If you have students in the household, they might well want to do research on such services as America Online, CompuServe and Prodigy, all of which have encyclopedias and numerous special interest information groups on-line.

The ubiquitous Microsoft will debut its own on-line service in 1995, and because this 1,000-pound gorilla of the home computer world never does anything quietly, its entrance into the field could cause a shake-up.

Look for continuing efforts next year to tame the wild and woolly Internet to make it more friendly for home use. With the arrival last year of Mosaic, and its even more advanced offspring--Netscape--average citizens who don’t want to sacrifice their leisure time to learn obscure computer languages have been exploring the Net.

CD-ROMs, which were still fairly rare at the beginning of ‘94, may soon make software disks the long-playing records of the home computer field. If your current home computer does not have a CD-ROM player, your next one likely will--especially if you have children who want to explore the many art, music, science and history CD-ROMs due for ’95 release.

Truly compatible Mac/Windows computers, slated to come out next year, will be a welcome addition to the home market--especially for people who now use one format in the office and another at home.

Finally, this is not a prediction but a request for the new year: Let’s all join hands, digitally, and pledge that in 1995 we will no long make “clever” wordplay on the term “information superhighway.”