By Waylon Bailey I bought my first personal computer in the early 80s. During that time I was professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. That early personal computer was a perfect fit for my work at the seminary. I was writing books, articles, and preparing notes for lectures. And while I wasn’t at the beginning of the personal computer revolution, I certainly was on the front end. It wasn’t long before I decided that I was ready for an upgrade. A number of my friends had a hard disc instead of the two floppy discs that I was using. As I talked with them I came to the conclusion that I really did need a hard drive and that I needed either a 20 meg, 30 meg, or 40 meg hard drive. The problem was I couldn’t decide which one. Finally, I decided to call IBM to get some advice. My call to the IBM Office was one of the most memorable conversations of my life. Not only did I learn a lot about  computers, but I also received advice about what size hard drive to purchase. I’ll never forget what the sales person told me. He said that I in fact did need a hard drive. That wasn’t hard to digest. The second thing he told me made sense at the time, but he couldn’t have been more wrong. … [Read more...]