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MR. GEORGE BLAIZE, OWNER/MANAGER OF THE COMPUTER STORE

Owner/Manager of The Computer Store in Grand Anse, St. George’s, Mr. George Blaize holds very strong feelings about the importance of having access to the technology that makes information available to them at all time. In an interview with the Barnacle, Blaize said “the important thing now is having information ready, handy since information can be used as a weapon by he who possesses it against he who does not.”

Giving an insight into the dizzying changes taking place in information and communications technology Blaize said many years ago the world experienced the Industrial Revolution when machines began to take over and he who had access to them dominated.

He said the world is going through another revolution now; it is the information age and any business or individual that wants to remain in the game must have access to information.

Today, through technology it is possible to source anything one wants on the Internet so according to Blaize the opportunities are there for everyone and the next wave of millionaires will emerge from ordinary people who will use the technology available to get ahead and those who do not will fall behind. “The people who can absorb their information use it to see what’s coming.”

The computer expert said that within the next two to fives years, the world will see a lot happening in wireless technology and Blue Tooth. He said the phone will become the central port to everything, for news, for email, you can be watching movies on your telephone and broad band on telephones is already available.

Blaize said we will see big changes in terms of computers. A company has already put out the first Home Server which as the name implies is a server dedicated to the home.

This means that eventually all home appliances including lights will be guided by your computer, everything will become automated.

He explained computer screens are going to get larger as users will need to do more things at the same time. They will therefore need more space to do many things simultaneously like accessing e-mail, word processing and other services. The user will have everything on the screen and will need a size that can be read easily since there will be no time to flip from window to window.

Another development in information technology is a new format for DVD which Blaize said can hold about 60 gigabytes of data on one DVD drive.

Blue Ray is being put out by Sony and backed by each of the major movie studios like MGM, Disney and others. Blue Ray the Computer Store boss said is way ahead of the pack in that area of technology and will soon be used as standard.

Blaize believes video technology will become more and more on the desk top because of high capacity and Blue Ray will take over the movie era. High definition television is also becoming the way to go and the experienced businessman warns that people should be prepared this year to spend money on new television sets. This development will be accompanied by high resolution projectors and radios.

Blaize said people can expect to see digital broadcast only by the year 2009. Printing technology is also shooting forward especially in the area of laser printing which is much more effective and of better quality than other methods.

Printers now have Blue Tooth technology built in so you don’t have to hard wire them to the computer in order to print.

Blue Tooth will also pop up in all cell phone devices. It is already in cameras and is very effective for short range communication.

Computer processor speed is doubling every18 months. The I-pod is becoming very popular and can be taken anywhere since they are wireless as well.

CD’s are on the way out and music will be stored on flash drives and the program doesn’t even have to be on the computer since it will be built into the software and will run on any computer. By the end of this year we will probably see a one terabyte hard drive. Blaize for his part enjoys and looks forward to technology changes but he said it is necessary to keep abreast of them and know when to change items in his store. He said even the color of hardware is changing and keeping up with technology is a 24hr job.

Business establishments have to be knowledgeable of these changes because technology helps their business to function better. What they access will depend on what they do.

Blaize said his operation the Computer Store has always been ahead of technology in Grenada. He said he has learned to embrace technology and spends the money every year to attend technology shows in Las Vegas to see what has come out and what will be coming out soon.

Therefore when he advises a customer he is already thinking ahead for that customer based on the business he is involved in and what his needs are.

He also ensures that what they get is the best value rather than the best price because often when you look for the best price you get what you pay for which is seldom the best quality.

He intends to continue attending shows, reading, being in touch with the major companies and hopes to bring in some very good new lines later in the year, selected very carefully based of sound knowledge and experience.

Blaize said with all these changes taking place worldwide, we in Grenada will have to change since this will give us the opportunity to go global if we have the right people guiding us.

We will be able to get word about our country out there faster if our leadership is liberal and goes the road of advanced technology.

He admits that technology has become a nightmare for governments even in the United States which are having a hard time catching up with technology and categorizing it. They will have to find new ways of collecting taxes because of the way certain items are classed for taxation.

Now people will be watching television on their computer screens and the computer will become the central means of entertainment, business, information, everything.

However there are many benefits he said to embracing technology and using the positive aspects of it to push our own development.

You can get anything on a computer that you had to buy a book or a DVD to get before. Children can get information for any project that they may be working on and they will soon be taking their lap tops to school rather than a bag of books and classes in different locations can be interactive.

He thinks we can either fall behind as a country if our leaders let us or we can encourage the children, empower the schools in terms of technology and help them to get forward.

There are some very effective packages he said that can help children to get ahead in certain subject areas of help them strengthen weak areas. He would like to see more computers in the schools to expose children to the advancement in technology that can help the individual sectors of our economy to grow.

“We are not taking enough advantage of our tourism potential because we do not offer enough. The world has gone global and if we do not keep up we will be in serious trouble.

The Computer Store will play its part in bringing the advancements in technology to Grenada but all must get involved to keep our country in the mainstream of global communication services.