From dot-dash to dot-com

As we head into new century suffixed clearly by dot.com, it’s worth
remembering that when we crossed the threshold of the last century the world was linked by the dot-dash of Morse code.
From the first phones, radio signals and light bulbs, the road to dot.com has been full of developments that no crystal ball gazer could have seen.
We take it for granted today, whether we understand the workings or not, that giant digital switches route billions of messages; hair-thin wisps of glass carry thousands of messages simultaneously; and signals bounce from hundreds of satellites orbiting earth.
Computers share data from around the world as easily as if they were in the same room.
And now it’s all converging; computers are becoming phones and televisions, while phones are becoming computers.
In World Boom Ahead, business forecaster Knight Kiplinger says telecommunications and biotechnology will have greater effect on more lives in more countries in shorter period of time than any previous technological impact; (even more than steam-driven machines had on the Industrial Revolution, which played out over longer period and was confined to relatively small portion of the world’s population).
As result of the changing shape of business, many of the hottest careers will be in jobs that barely existed just five years ago, global managers will be in demand, and specialisation will accelerate in every field from health care and accounting to education and law.
However, when all’s said and done, Kiplinger believes there will still be premium for the “rainmakers” – those with the flair for bringing in the big new clients. “Scratch the surface of any successful person – even in the most staid of professions – and you’ll find the heart of true salesman beating within.”
Some things it seems, will stay the same.