Over the past few decades, the technology we use daily has become based around the microprocessor and its seemingly endless capabilities. The people that have been behind the designing of these devices have changed along with their creations. The contrast between the shirt-and-tie engineer of the `70s and the jeans-and-t-shirt CEO of today is a striking reality. The concepts on which these people have based their developments have taken a completely new standpoint. We've gone from the old "GoTo" way of programming, to the object oriented programming (OOP) method. More importantly, we've taken the computer from the restricted confines of the university laboratory, to the desktop of most Northern Americans today. And most importantly, we've begun to realize the benefits that are to be had from utilizing the network as a computer.
      The mentality of the hacker must change to meet the attitude and movement of outside development. The hacker "underground" used to be one of a passion and willingness to learn about new technology, and because of this there was an element of respect amongst its members. It is now one of misguided and disorganized juveniles (all generalization aside, of course). This may be, in part, due to the progress of the early hackers and their achievement in acquiring public attention and acknowledgement. Whenever there is such a situation, you will have a corruption of the original entity - it's almost inevitable. Due to this, we have a situation where the developments outside of the hacking environment have progressed, while the hacker community, itself, has almost been at a stand still. The hackers have been faced with the task of weeding out the misguided youth roaming within their ranks, while still maintaining some sort of integrity to the outside world (never mind each other). And some may even be hesitant to move onto bigger and better accomplishments, for fear of completely losing the old hacker mentality all together.
      It is time to wake up and move forward. The preservation of this relic study has become an act that defies logic. We are coming to a point in time where the technological industry is at an amazing level of complexity. Only certain individuals, and a few groups, have embraced and explored the depths of this new world. The telecommunications industry is booming with developments of wireless communication, and yet one very rarely comes across a well written, technical article on any of the industry's new devices and applications. Many of the new programming languages with unimaginable capabilities are being passed up because of their association with new technology (ex. Java). There remains countless new devices and products that are being neglected their fair share of exploration (after all, exploration often leads to exploitation, which leads to evolution).
      The demand for cross-platform capabilities is becoming a very present one. Almost 84% of Fortune 1000 companies have implemented or plan to implement this type of technology. The Jini (gee nee) technology that Bill Joy has developed exhibits this property. (Bill Joy is the cofounder of Sun Microsystems and principal designer of the Berkley edition of the UNIX operating system). Basically, it is the ability to plug into a local network port and have all of the network's resources available to you - you don't even need any drivers (and this is cross-platform, it goes above and beyond plug-and-play). Java, itself, which is also known for its cross-platform abilities, is becoming a force to reckon with. The use of this language in developing applications and even self-sustaining platforms that can existence in a multi-platform environment is it's primary advantage over almost any other language in use today.
      The future holds so many possibilities for the capabilities of man aided by the microchip. The idea of home automation, once thought to be an unreal concept, is quickly becoming a reality. The days of watching television on the back of your cellular phone, calling home to reset the oven temperature and refill the ice-tray, and even have a warm bubble bath waiting for you right after a hard days work, are emerging from creations being developed today. Credit card looking devices are being used to hold unbelievable amounts of data. Cars are becoming more and more computerized with time. It's highly likely that you will be calling an electrician to repair your automobile, in the future. And while most of these things may not be reality just yet, they are definitely feasible concepts being developed inside the minds of people today. This notion alone is enough reason for one to start exploring the ideas and applications that these concepts are based on. If we are really out to help the development of technology, then why not start working on theoretical vulnerabilities of such developments now? Why can't we be ahead of the technological revolution for once, instead of picking up the pieces of past technology?
      A lot has changed over the years. The world operates in a different manner, and the forces that propel such change can be found in the boxes on people's desks. To maintain a positive evolution, there must always be those that are in a state of mind parallel to the causes behind such progression. These same people must continue to defy all barriers when questioning the efficiency and integrity of technology's theories and applications. The frontiers of technology have yet to be reached, and the scope of such an event is still difficult to fathom. The one thing we know for sure is that we are the ones that must endlessly poke and prod technology into it's eminent and continuous evolution.