The Desktop Revolution

The phrase "Desktop Revolution" refers to the movement of computing power out of centralized MIS and onto the desks of end users.

In the early days of data processing if an organization had a computer it was a big expensive mainframe. It was kept in an air conditioned room on a raised floor, behind locked doors, behind glass walls. It was difficult to use and access to it was restricted. It was ministered to by a central data processing department, an "MIS Priesthood" in white lab coats who alone were allowed to enter the inner sanctum of the computer room.

But, then came the development of the PC, the Personal Computer. Computing power was now sitting right on top of the desks of people in the organization who performed business functions, people other than the MIS department. Soon these personal computers were affordable enough that individual departments and business units could buy them out of their own budgets without having to seek approval for funding from the central MIS budget. End users and end user departments began buying their own hardware and selecting their own software.

The mainframe was now considered old technology, even ridiculed as a "dinosaur" because it was nearly extinct, or at best a "legacy system." However, some organizations soon discovered that despite the usefulness of desktop systems and the success of the desktop revolution there was also a place in the organization for the raw power of mainframes, leading to a renewed interest in these so-called dinosaur systems.