I remember the mid-1990s, when the Internet was just starting to take off in Malaysia, and computer fairs were all the rage. Every year, there’d be at least two major ones: one organised by The Star newspaper and the other by PIKOM, the association representing the computer industry. Back then, my friends and I, already well immersed in the online world, had loosely formed the NOMIS group. We were eager to show people how to get onto the Internet and explore what could be done online. For two or three years, we participated in every computer fair in Penang, giving talks and live demonstrations.
Fast forward about 30 years, and everything has changed. Computer fairs are a thing of the past, our NOMIS group has long since run its course, and The Star no longer has its computer pull-out section—let alone organises fairs. But PIKOM is still around, organising talks! Just last month, I attended a half-day PIKOM event in Penang. Today, with artificial intelligence being all the rage, the speakers were talking about AI, ChatGPT, DeepSeek, and the like—how businesses that don’t embrace this new technology risk being left behind.
Three decades ago, our “toys” were dial-up modems, 64kbps speeds, mailing lists, bulletin boards, FTP, Telnet, Gopher, IRC and the World Wide Web. Now, it’s AI and machine learning. As I sat there listening to the speakers, I couldn’t help but think—every generation has its new toys.
