Information Technology and You 171real. How these technologies will be used in the future, and the tremendous
entrepreneurial potential for new products and services, is wide open for the
resourceful.
This section is titled “The Future—Today, Tomorrow, and Next Week,”
because the horizon for change in the world of technology is very short. Each
year, major enhancements to both hardware and technology are released, ren-
dering previous technology obsolete. Some people are paralyzed from buying
computers because they are concerned that the technology will change very
soon. How right they are! The promise of technology is that it is constantly
changing. Today’s worker must recognize that fact and learn to adapt to the
changing methods. Those who are technologically comfortable will be the first
to gain strategic advantage in the work environment and succeed. A word to
the wise: Hold on to your hat, and enjoy the ride. Adapt and go with it.
FOR FURTHER READING
There are many excellent books on the personal use of computer systems. Top-
ics run the spectrum from books about individual software packages to those
that explain how to program a computer. Many of these books come equipped
with a f loppy disk or CD and include step-by-step examples and exercises.
There are several popular series of these books. The following are but a few of
the books you might consider. You would probably find it worth your while to
browse through a number of books at your local store, searching for those that
meet your needs for detail and appear to be aimed at your current level of
understanding.
SYBEX has a series of books on Microsoft’s Office software, including
Microsof t Office 2000: No Experience Required by Courter and Marquis.
QUE has published many books on various software applications, includ-
ing Microsof t Office 2000 User Manual.
Hungry Minds Inc. has a series of very noteworthy books, the for Dum-
miesseries, one book for nearly every software package (e.g., Excel: Excel for
Dummies). See books on Office 2000, the Internet, and so on.
Microsoft Press also publishes numerous titles for users on both its oper-
ating-system and application software.
USEFUL WEB SITES
Search Engines
http://www.yahoo.com A good search site which organizes the Web into
a hierarchy of categories
http://www.northernlight.com A very extensive search engine that organizes
search findings by subject matter
http://www.google.com A very extensive search site