Two of the greatest technologies of our age are telecommunications
and computer engineering. Telecommunications is concerned
with moving information from one point to another point or
from one point to many other points. I think it is no exaggeration
to say that the telecommunications industry is largely taken for
granted by the vast majority of people. If you were to ask the
average person what the greatest technological feat of 1969 was,
they would probably reply ‘The first manned landing on the
moon’. A much more magnificent achievement was the ability of
millions of people half a million kilometres away to watch what
was taking place on the moon in their own homes. However,
if most people are not aware of the great developments in
the telecommunications industry, they will not have missed
the microprocessor revolution. In the last few years powerful
computers have become even more powerful and minicomputers
and microprocessors have spread to industry, education, research,
and the home.
(Extraído de: The Principles of Computer Hardware, Alan Clements,
International Student Edition, 2nd, 1991)