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Technology evolves at lightning-fast speeds. So, you can only imagine
how much Federal Computer Week has seen since its first issue was published
in 1987. The past 20 years have seen the rise of the Clinger-Cohen Act,
the Internet, mobile devices and greater information security concerns.
The past two decades also saw some flubs, such as Y2K and failed communications
at the most crucial of times: when terrorists struck U.S. soil Sept. 11,
2001, and Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005.
Consolidating 20 years of technological advances into one Web page is
no easy feat, but we’re ready to give it a shot. Throughout 2007,
we will update this page with multimedia presentations, links to articles
and more. Put your mouse on the arrows below to view timelines of significant technology
milestones.
| Features | 20 things in 20 years that changed government
IT
Anniversaries — such as Federal Computer
Week’s 20th,
which we are celebrating this year — are a good time to remember
the past and learn from it.
The digital big bang
In
FCW’s 20 years, nothing has changed
government IT more than the Internet. Here are five ways the Web
changed our world.
It's not your father's telephone operator
FCW’s
neverending stories: Telecommunications issues have been an ongoing
subject during the past 20 years.
Remembering MCI Mail
MCI did something no other company had done before
when it connected its e-mail to the Internet
20 years of FCW through ads
For more blasts from the technology past, check out:
Machine memories
Remember when a 9,600-baud modem made your heart race? Techie Sean
Gallagher does. Read his retrospective on 20 years of advertisements
from the pages of FCW.
| | Comment | Editorial:
FCW’s bias
If there has been
a bias in these pages, it is a strong belief in the vital role that
IT can play in helping the government do its important jobs more
effectively
Armstrong:
Doing more with less
The more time alters the stories
that FCW has covered for 20 years, the more they stay the same.
McCloskey:
20/20 hindsight
Federal Computer Week’s first editorial
team got a speedy education in computer technology.
Holmes:
In the beginning: FCW 1987
FCW’s first editor looks
back at the publication that she helped launch two decades ago.
Intercepts
Bob Brewin reflects on 15 years of writing this column.
| | Management | Goodbye
clerks, hello knowledge workers
FCW reported on workforce
initiatives, including the Trail Boss program, that sound quaint
today.
| | Technology | 6
technologies that reshaped government
In FCW’s
first two decades, innovations paved the way for better information
sharing.
| | Business | Government
business attracted big players
Federal
IT sector has been mostly bullish since FCW’s launch.
| | Policy | Policy
home runs
In FCW’s first two decades,
six statutory changes transformed the IT playing field.
| | Flip Side | A few minutes with...Patrick McGovern
FCW history book: CD-ROMs circa 1987
FlipSide: Tech toons told the story
Cartoonist Richard Tennant picks his favorite cartoons from the past 20 years.
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