10 Years: A Quick Look Back

Some people think I'm crazy for keeping old computer magazines. But despite the fact that things in the computing world move so fast, some things do stay the same. And sometimes it's fun to look back and see what has changed (and what hasn't).

Earlier today I ran across a copy of PC Pro from November 1998 -- ten years ago. The inside front cover is a Dell ad. Later there's a review of Lotus SmartSuite Millennium Edition. (Remember when 2000 was approaching and everyone was tacking "2000" or "millennium" to the end of their product names?) There's a large article on the recently released Windows 98 including a sidebar about multiple monitor support. Page 309 talks about Gigabit Ethernet. Further on there's an overview of KDE -- version 1. The "Leisure" section mentions a Star Wars game based on the upcoming Episode One movie. Mech Commander received 5 out of 6 stars. Towards the end there's also a Dilbert comic. (Wow, Dilbert’s been around a while.) The back cover is an ad for Kingston memory.

So, ten years ago we were talking about multiple monitors, Gigabit Ethernet and Linux. Doesn't sound much different than today, does it?

P.S. SmartSuite lives on as IBM's Lotus Symphony.

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