Information Revolution

Some have begun to call it the Information Revolution. Technological changes brought dramatic new options to Americans living in the 1990s. From the beginning of the decade until the end, new forms of entertainment, commerce, research, work, and communication became commonplace in the United States. The driving force behind much of this change was an innovation popularly known as the Internet. Personal computers had become widespread by the end of the 1980s. Through a device called a modem, individual users could link their computer to a wealth of information using conventional phone lines. What lay beyond individual computers was a vast domain of information known as cyberspace. Upon its release in 1983 the Apple "Lisa" computer was supposed to revolutionize personal computing. But interest in "Lisa" was minimal due to its nearly $10,000 price tag and the introduction of the much more affordable "Macintosh" a year later.