he same basic costs. Microprocessors equipped with ROM, or read-only memory (which stores constantly used, unchanging programs), now were also performing an increasing number of process-control, testing, monitoring, and diagnostic functions, as in automobile ignition-system, engine, and production line inspection tasks.In the 1990s these changes were forcing the computer industry as a whole to make striking adjustments. Long-established and more recent giants of the field were reducing their work staffs, shutting down factories, and dropping subsidiaries. At the same time competition in the hardware field intensified and producers of personal computers continued to proliferate, as did specialty companies, each company devoting itself to some special area of manufacture, distribution, or customer service.Computers continue to dwindle to increasingly convenient sizes for use in offices, schools, and homes. Programming productivity has not increased as rapidly, and as a result software has become the major cost of many systems. However, programming techniques such as object-oriented programming have been developed to help alleviate this problem. The computer field as a whole continues to experience tremendous growth. As computer and telecommunications technologies continue to integrate, computer networking, electronic mail, and electronic publishing are just a few of the applications that have matured in recent years. The most phenomenal growth has been in the development of the Internet, with attendant ramifications in software manufacture and other areas....
