Inspiring Computer Science majors

In response to recent press accounts of Bill Gates promoting Computer Science programs, Dave Winer contemplates: “Did Microsoft dry up the talent pool?” Hardly. But it is true that there is a communal feeling that software is dead.

It’s interesting to compare what my friends and acquaintances tell me today with what I remember hearing when I was getting into microcomputers full-throttle in the late ’70s.

I remember lots of people being overwhelmed by my handwired contraptions back then, but they almost unanimously were positive about their future. They saw great potential in computers.

I often chuckled inside when people were so positive however. Here I was with a computer that I hand-built and primarily programmed using front panel switches. It was going to become widespread? No way! And people often talked of wanting to use their microcomputers to balance their checkbooks. But who was going to type all the information into a microcomputer? You could do it faster by hand. It was hard to see where the practicality was. But even with all the limitations I think people inherently understood that these restrictions were temporary. They were right.

Now I compare all this to today. I’m going to bet that the majority of the time when I meet someone and tell them that I write software for the Tablet PC that I get a response that the software opportunities have moved overseas. Sure, people are intrigued when I show them what I’m doing, but at the same time I can see them ponder whether it couldn’t be done just as well by someone else, somewhere else. Their assumption, I’m surmising, is that a big company could call in an order to develop a new software program as easily as it could order a pizza.

I imagine this can be a bit disconcerting–especially to someone thinking of getting into Computer Science.

That being said, I also remember quite well that back when I was getting into computers, it didn’t matter what anyone said. I was still going to do it. I don’t think I could effectively explain to anyone why they really needed a S-100 system in their home or office. But there was no stopping me from exploring them. I had no idea where it was going to lead. I presume I could have had trouble justifying the time–if I had thought about it–which I can’t remember doing.

Now with car loans, housing, insurance, medical bills and on and on I admit I’m outwardly more reasoned in how I allocate my time and resources. However, I still have that inexplicable drive to want to make things better–computers being one tool to accomplish this.

And when I mean “make things better” I don’t mean simply sanding down well-known and understood technologies. We’ve only scratched the surface of what computers need to do. I want computers hundreds of times faster than we have now to get to the point where computers can be more aware of their surroundings, making interacting with them much more powerful and natural. I need this because I really want to build robots. Yeah, I can’t exactly tell you why. I can’t justify the cost of building a robot that can fetch a can of coke or keep track of your food. But I’ve got to find out how to do it. The one thing I’m sure about is that the value will be obvious…later.

Hmm, if I was in the student audience listening to Bill Gates, one thing that surely would have inspired me would have been if he’d brought a robot on stage. What would have inspired you?