After three long, hardworking and sometimes gruelling, years I have finally come to the end of my part time Computer Science Masters at University which I have to say I really, and surprisingly, enjoyed doing even though many a time I really struggled to find motivation. I had to give a Viva presentation as part of my final year report and an element of that involved some reflection on the course and naturally on how technology has moved on. I was looking forward to giving the presentation as, even though I work in IT, I work in the food manufacturing industry so I do not often get the opportunity to discuss, say, the inner workings of Bluetooth push applications in a mobile environment - with like-minded people. Usually, technological discussions get as far as something like “My home PC has stopped working, can you do me a favour and look at it for me?” or “I have upgraded to Vista and…”.

Back to the reflection, well, three years ago:

• I had a really advanced (for the time!) mobile phone - a Sony Ericsson T630 with integrated camera. Now I have a multipurpose entertainment device (a Nokia N95 8GB which I am loving so far! read about it here - with a 5 mega pixel snapper). A Sony Ericsson K800i filled the gap between these two devices.
• My computer was physically tied to the wall for a data connection and trying to get a reliable fast wireless connection was like pulling teeth. Now, I have so many devices connected wirelessly to the home broadband hub that I worry about the last mile and how I can get my house moved closer to the local exchange in the pursuit of more bandwidth.
• I was proudly driving around in my eight year old planet saving diesel car (the cost of fuel was so low then!) and I was happy to use printed maps for directions - now I have a choice of using my in car sat nav (which seems to have a mind of its own) or even my Nokia if I wanted to (though not whilst driving I hasten to add!). My car even tells me when I need to get it serviced. When I fill up at the pump I start to wonder if Moore’s law has started applying to fuel prices.
• I was thinking about getting Sky+ and now we often reflect that perhaps we watch a little too much TV and have recently dropped the Sky package for a Freeview box instead. It is amazing what you can get done with all those free hours that used to be spent watching television. Yep, now we can download and watch many of our favourite programmes when WE want to see them.
• I didn’t have children but now I could sing you the theme tune to Peppa Pig or In The Night Garden with no hesitation whatsoever - I could even sketch you a quick picture of Iggle Piggle, Upsy Daisy or Charlie and Lola. Mind you I am usually left to watch these programmes by myself as the kids push me off the computer. Childrens online websites with their various games and activities have a lot to answer for when Daddy is trying to remotely administer and maintain the company network.
• I used to laugh and tell people that one day everyone will be an IT Manager - of their home. Now, well, everyone seems to at least be familiar with level one technical support. The IT crowd sit-com have since driven this point home and even Peppa Pigs Daddy used this method successfully in several episodes. Seriously though, with computer security becoming a huge issue in the home including spam protection, phishing protection, anti-virus protection, intrusion prevention, parental controls, wireless security, copyright protection, and identity theft issues it seems that indeed everyone is needing to rapidly become a system manager of their home.
• I felt I knew most things there was to know about Microsoft Office and could probably navigate it blindfolded. Now, I struggle to find how to change the shape of Word Art and worry why my text style keeps changing when I accidentally hover over the Style ribbon.
• Our photo albums were dusty, out of date, bulky items that rarely saw the light of day except for maybe Christmas or when the relatives visited. Now, our photo albums cycle endlessly on our digital photo frame.
• I had an X-Box because everyone seemed to have one and it was the great thing to have but I never really bothered with it. Now I have a Wii and, well, I don’t really bother with it. No change there. Why does it ship with just one controller when all the fun seems to be in multiplayer games!? Maybe I will play it more when the kids get a bit older and interested in it.

I can only imagine what the next three years may bring.