Re-centralizing: the pendulum wobbles back

In the 80's, many schools and corporations had "Information Center" departments who were charged with promoting and supporting "end-user computing." We I.C. folks sponsored PC user groups and led discussions on whether people should upgrade right away to WordPerfect 4.2 or wait. We encouraged the spreadsheet guru in Finance to teach short-courses on 1 2--3. We installed a network file server for the Sociology Department, but asked the department to provide someone to do the backups and funnel questions, so we could teach one person how to use the network, who would then teach the rest. As the number of PCs exploded, we helped our institutions cope in the only cost-effective way available: we leveraged the available computer expertise by focusing training, support, and resources on key departmental computing coordinators. [1]