The relevance of PCQ for today’s generation

The Greek philosopher Heraclitus, who lived from 536 BC to 476 BC, stated: Change is the only constant of life. That cliché remains as fresh about 2500 years later. As we celebrate 35 years of PCQuest, and boy has technology really changed in India during that period! But then so has PCQ!

The IBM PC was unveiled in 1981. India’s New Computer Policy came in 1984. But it took many years for the PC to capture the imagination of India. When CyberMedia launched a Personal Computer magazine in 1987, it was way ahead of the times.

PCQ made sense of the Personal Computer and popularized it when no one in India was quite sure of what it was. Understanding even the accessories was a challenge and PCQ helped out there too. Personal software. Enterprise software. Multimedia. PCQ demystified it all and helped the entire generation ease into technology in both their personal and professional lives. The effect of this was felt for decades to come and influenced both the tech industry and the personal habits of the readers.

The non-commercial Internet came in 1988 in the form of ERNET(The Education and Research Network). PCQ was ready with the BBS (Bulletin Board System), the precursor to the Internet chat. Imagine chatting with people all over the world years before the public Internet came. India was Liberalized in 1991. So, when the products started proliferating soon after, nobody could keep track of it all. PCQ set up India’s first tech labs, analyzed and tested in a way unseen in India by enthusiastic pioneers who dug deep.

When the commercial Internet finally did come in 1995, the dial-up (the peculiar sounds it made is still recalled by everyone from that era) meant that you had to wait for ages and ages and spend tonnes of money for something modest to be downloaded. PCQ started distributing CDs with software, tools, games, and even an operating system (Linux). The average techie of the day would look forward to the monthly CD and explore what all it had. It was a bonanza for the average user. It was like opening a packed virtual gift hamper.

We pushed Wi-Fi in the early days and realized what a big thing it would be. After that, there was a special focus on enterprise implementation for SMBs so they wouldn’t be left out. Buying Guides. Best IT Implementation Awards. SMB Handbook. SMB Forum. User Choice Awards. It’s been a series of innovations and specials.

The main point is that PCQ kept evolving. From being a PC magazine to a PC ecosystem magazine to a developer magazine to an IT implementation magazine to finally becoming a pure-play technology magazine. Today PCQ takes a look at the cutting-edge technologies and makes sense of them all. There are enough emerging technologies to understand, and they don’t stop changing.

The technological acceleration unleashed by the Covid Era means that now tech is entering every facet of your professional and personal life. There will be no let-up. The genie is out of the bottle.

Cloud. 5G. IoT (The Internet of Things). Industry 4.0. Artificial Intelligence (AI). Machine Learning (ML). Deep Learning (DL). Natural Language Processing (NLP). Virtual Reality (VR). Augmented Reality (AR). Mixed Reality (MR). XR (Extended Reality). Robotics. Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Blockchain. Cryptocurrency. Bitcoin. Quantum computing. NFTs (Nonfungible tokens). Web3. Metaverse. The list is endless and will have things falling in and out of it at the drop of a hat. There’s also a lot of jargon and Alphabet Soup for the Soul in there.

Let’s have a look at the things that have shut down, become redundant, fallen out of use, or terms simply still relevant but unfamiliar to today’s generation. Floppy disk. Multimedia. DOS. LAN. DTP. BBS. PSP. CD. Dial-up. Dot-matrix printer. Pentium. Apple Newton. Netscape. Hotmail. MSN Messenger. AltaVista. Napster. iPod. MP3 Player. Compaq. Palm. Blackberry. Orkut. Google Plus. Internet Explorer. Every year there will be additions to this list.

You can check out our magazine (both the print and PDF version), website, social media channels, YouTube channel, panel discussions, webinars, virtual events, and even offline events, which are bound to resume soon. Whatever works for you.

PCQ has remained relevant for all generations in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. It has become even more relevant in the 2020s.

By Sunil Rajguru

Editor, PCQuest, Dataquest & CiOL