The Computer Simplified
Artist Unknown

Computer Complex
(It’s a mental condition)

The first computer programs,
were hardwired on the spot.
All cathode ray tubes,
expensive and hot.

One tube burned out,
your program was shot.

Transistors made computers,
cooler and small. Typing
Hollerith cards for programming,
made it easier for all.

A card out of place, mispunched, or
syntax error and the program would fall.

Magnetic tape and disks spun round,
storing data with a high-pitched sound.
An IBM Selectric connected by wire,
time-shared cards to the paper pound.

Could word process with this big machine,
combining it with graphics was still a dream.

The Selectric gave way to the CRT.
Graphics, icons and the desktop display.
All it needed was one little mouse,
and computing could come to the house.

The disk operating system was so floppy,
Operating these made computing sloppy.

Steve Jobs put it all together in a box.
Called it an Apple and gave it a mouse.
Like to Pied Piper they flocked and played,
Had to get one for the kids today.

Programmers turned up their noses,
at the threat a toy for kids poses .

Steve Jobs hired Bill Gates for serious code.
so his computer could do real work.
With Macintosh and Office he scored big,
but anti-mousers called him a dork.

"The Macintosh is just a toy," they cried.
"If required to use a mouse—I’ll die."

The geeks, they joined, with Gates and his DOS.
Mastered multiple keystrokes and cryptic codes.
Convinced all of business that they were cool,
harder was better in business modes.

But Bill was losing with his crappy disk system,
had to meet Mac’s innovative inroads.

With Windows he copied what Jobs had wrought,
a poor imitation that the geeks bought.
The geek world went wild and produced the PC,
a cheap computer that failed readily.

Everyone bought computers with Windows with glee,
only to find they weren't what supposed to be.


Many generations have come and gone.
Processors, Windows, monitors, on and on.
The complexity of Gates’ idea has come to a head,
an ungainly, bloated code that many dread.

That the hackers of the Internet love to exploit,
with viruses, trojans, phishing, spam and the like.

Thus a new era of Apple as a business machine,
a window to the Internet that works like a dream.
While Bill Gates takes his billions and hightails it out.
The weight of Windows we are all finding out.

So who in this story has the last laugh?
The smart computer user with a Mac in lap.