Tech for thought: The geeks have overcome

My phone today is exactly as powerful as the brand new computer I bought 12 years ago.

It is not just processor power; we have come a long way with Internet connectivity as well. The Internet speed I get on my mobile phone today is faster than my dial-up internet speed ten years ago.

Terrorists, militants and fundamentalists have obviously not slowed down the advent of technology in Pakistan.

I can order books online from Kitabain.com and pay on delivery. I can buy anything else on homeshopping.pk and beliscity.com and do the same with nearly anything except groceries.

It may not matter to most people, but my computer games have graphics which look better than Pixar’s 3d movie masterpiece, Toy Story. My Nintendo Wii allows me to play hockey, tennis and do a lot of other embarrassing things right at my home.


We may not have the fancy new 3G internet on our mobile phones. But remembering the good old days when I had to wait an hour to download a tiny mp3 really puts things into perspective.

Also, you might not remember it, but a friend and I were reminiscing about all the Trojans and backdoors that he had used to mess around with people. Lucky for you, these intrusive computing programs that allowed Internet users incredibly easy access to your machine, are no more. This is mainly because Microsoft fixed up the incredibly shoddy security on its earlier operating systems.

Also, it took very little time for the 3D cinema to come to Pakistan. I never really expected it to happen.

Sometimes, things need to be put into perspective. People in Pakistan never really realised that despite everything that has happened, we have more or less kept up with the developing world in terms of their most important technological developments.

Bickering governments, exploding suicide bombers, and 23 years of martial law have come and gone. It did nothing to technology in Pakistan. Trust me, the only good news is tech news.